For all practical and theoretical purposes, corruption is best understood as a balance between opportunities for and constraints against it in every social context. The classic model of the individual decision to engage in a criminal act after a rational calculation of the probability of detection versus the opportunity of crime is largely dependent, in the case of corruption, on how the balance between opportunities and constraints operates within the broader social context. If a programme like the infamous UN Oil-for-Food is designed without any constraints and multiple opportunities, we can expect systematic corruption, regardless of the nationality and culture of those involved in it. If we continue to design an anticorruption approach for the individual ignoring the broader societal balance, the overall prevalence of corruption will stay the same, although some individuals or groups of profiteers may be replaced by others if exposed.
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