Government corruption leads to violent extremism [1]
Thursday, February 23, 2017 - 14:46
Injustice, insecurity and inequality all stem from corruption in governments around the world, according to a Transparency International Defence and Security (TI-DS) released this month.
Corruption also breeds and grows violent extremism where ideology groups such as the Islamic State (IS) uses it as an advantage to further their agenda the report says.
The report highlights IS uses corruption (and still does) to radicalize and recruit people by presenting itself as the antidote to current governments, all while disregarding its own dishonest activities.
It markets itself as a better provider of security, justice and welfare. People who are fed-up and frustrated with their governments, who suffer and have no other institution to turn to are drawn to the IS cause. Transparency International says to defeat IS and others like it, governments must address corruption.
Katherine Dixon, Director of Transparency International Defence and Security says “corruption is a rallying cry, an enabler and a key modus operandi for IS. The failure to grasp this undermines efforts to tackle the rise of violent extremism.”
The report reveals a number of recurring themes used by IS to recruit people such as social media posts highlighting systematic corruption, including nepotism and bribery, as well as highlighting discrimination felt by certain groups. IS also implies the West and its allies are complicit in the corruption.
Corruption has also physically weakened defence forces such as the Iraqi army who had thousands of soldiers listed as being paid but were no where to be found to combat IS when it first attacked Mosul. The pay of these ghost soldiers filled the pockets of high-level officials instead.
Tonga
While Tonga is far from breeding the likes of IS, it should be reminded of the consequences of what corrupt activities and the inequalities that stem from it can lead to in the future.
Tonga’s corruption ranking on the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index list has been excluded since 2012 due to insufficient survey information.
Tonga’s last assessment was 2011 where it ranked 95 on the CPI list, much better than the previous year when it ranked 164, only one up from the very bottom.