The Ethics of Bribery

Bribery is wrong, and it would be almost instinctive to point at the benefits of impartially functioning public servants and incorrupt corporations to our democratic society as justification. However, in this imperfect world where bribery is rife in varying degrees, is it possible to express this notion convincingly? Certainly 'because the UK Bribery Act says so' is far less persuasive to a council planning office in Shanghai than in London, and indeed in compliance with section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010 which relates to commercial offences, it is essential that this question is engaged with on a corporate scale and without assertion through dogma. Accordingly, this essay will argue that elements wrong with bribery are inclusive of both moral and economic considerations. Moreover, in conjunction with international mandates, advent of aggressive legislation such as that of the UK Bribery Act 2010 is representative of global efforts to eliminate bribery. Hence, it follows that bribery can never be considered a normal part of business because it is economically unsustainable in the long term.

(i) The ethics of bribery
The question of why bribery is illegal in the first place is fundamental to the discussion of its practice and legality. Foremost, it can be considered wrong in terms of normative ethics, both deontologically and teleologically. Teleological ethics holds that the outcome of an action is the determining factor in whether or not it is moral. Should bribery create economic distortions resulting in suboptimal development in the aggregate, it would be economically beneficial in the long run to criminalise bribery. Therefore, application of a consequentialist view asserts that bribery, in being detrimental to the economy, i...

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... that the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act should be revised such that Haiti was excluded from its legislation. Notwithstanding, predictions regarding the amendment of the FCPA have transpired as 'inevitable' and suggest that the only factor holding this back is the time consuming process of repealing the relevant statute.[13] Fortunately, such cases remain very much anomalous and cannot be considered representative of the current global state of affairs.

In conclusion, in failing to pass both Kantian and consequentialist formulations, bribery is morally wrong. Pragmatically, long term solutions sanctioning bribery are likely to result in public officials changing their decision making in the absence of bribery, and economic models and research on the whole predicts that the results will be costly in terms of economic efficiency, political legitimacy, and equality.