Ever since civilization first came up with the idea of appointing a body of people to govern the collective population, those people in positions of power have been faced with the temptation to personally take advantage of their station in one way or another. We in the West pride ourselves on our advanced systems of government, and how as a result, we have an economic advantage over the rest of the world. The numbers may add up in our favour, but when you take the lowest common denominator, human nature is the same the world over. If the opportunity exists to make a dishonest, but covert buck, sooner or later, someone will act on that opportunity.
What sets the West apart from many developing countries in this respect is that we don’t usually tolerate people who make the mistake of getting caught in their dishonesty. Anyone in a position of power who is found with his (or her) fist in the cookie jar is given the boot in short order. Such perpetrators are held up as examples of what the establishment has decreed thou shalt not do, and other people who share the same dishonest temptations are usually tempted to think twice when they read about the prison sentences. This is why the West has succeeded thus far: when power corrupts, the corrupted is replaced as soon as evidence of corruption becomes visible.
On the other hand, many developing countries remain locked in the limbo of increasing national debt versus decreasing national revenue. In many cases (although not all- some countries are just very unfortunate) this problem is not due to lack of natural resources or other exportable products. Instead, the blame often lies squarely on the shoulders of the citizens who have learned to play the capitalist game just a little too well. Corruption is rampant in developing countries because the ideas of the Western economic system that is being inflicted on them are so foreign to the native culture, that the intelligent-but-sly people who catch on quickly have all the opportunity they need to jump on the band wagon, take the ride to the top, and establish themselves as kings of the castle and/or dictators for life.
Such people suffer from a severe form of myopia that virtually removes all sense of foresight. Corrupt power players in the Third World live in and for the present, caring only about the prestige, influence and wealth that they can accumulate now and not at all about the condition their countries will be in after the passing of a decade or two. The solution to the problems in the developing world lies with its own people. When they decide en masse that blatant corruption is acceptable no longer, then will come the day that the developing nations of the world finally have the opportunity to truly step unaided onto the world stage.
Today foreign aid is the weakening crutch that continues to prop up the existence of too many Third World countries. Corruption in public position is the shackle that continues to drag them down. Until they start producing homegrown honest public servants, the developing countries will continue to peer short-sightedly at the wealth of the Western world, and they will continue to wonder where they are going wrong.
