David Brooks does a great service with his annual
Sidney Awards: his selection of what he considers the best magazine articles from the past year. Two of his choices--Lawrence Rosen's provocative piece on
corruption and Tyler Cowan's piece on
inequality (both published in the American Interest)--are worthy winners. Both writers highlight how different understandings about fairness and ethics are fundamental to what may be the most crucial issues in international politics. To make progress on both topics we need to understand their complexity.
Corruption is part of a leading conundrum: the world's poorest and most troubled societies (Afghanistan and Sudan included) are caught in poverty and conflict because of lousy governance and corruption, which make it almost impossible for them to escape. Corruption can seem simple and clear when viewed from Washington, but in many cases it's anything but.
Rosen focuses on subtle differences in understandings of what is moral and what is corrupt, especially in Arab and Muslim countries. Where personal relationships and trust are the primary currency in a society, abstract notions of correct practice can seem remote. This is not true only in traditional societies: Rosen points to discussions at Princeton University where employees found nepotism rules foolish if they prevented them from building on trusted relationships in hiring. What changes the picture is when reciprocity withers - where the anonymity of cities and modern societies means that a payoff or loan no longer carries the commitment of a continuing relationship. That's when fighting corruption can mobilize mass public support. Honest government is based on clear rules and a commitment to giving everyone a fair chance.
But changing the rules of the game is never easy and the tone of self-righteousness that runs through much discourse about corruption in international aid makes it more difficult to deal with the problem. Of course laws will define what is illegal - offering payments for services, favoring relatives, failing to honor a contract. Even so, money and power speak, even within the law. The rich can nearly always buy influence. It is useful to recognize that even in the United States, what is lawful and what is moral are not always the same.
A stony silence from the governing side often greets discussions about curbing corruption in countries as far apart as Mauritania and Cambodia. After a burst of fiery rhetoric about corruption's evils (in a railing sermon or political speech), doubts creep into any frank discussion on the topic. Rich nations' preoccupation with corruption is seen by developing countries as unbalanced and unfair for two reasons: it seems so deeply based on western values, and the balance of power between giver and receiver is so skewed. Rosen drives home the important point that failure to appreciate the merits of different ethical systems fuels resentment.
How people understand fairness is also one of Cowan's central themes. His canvas is the United States. Sharp increases in inequality are changing American society, but there is a puzzling indifference to the change. Americans, he argues, worry less about the gap between themselves and the super rich than about inequalities closer to home. That plus a faith in market freedom and the American dream that anyone can become rich mean that Americans rarely get very excited about inequality at a general, abstract level. People react to what seems patently unfair, like bonuses to rich bankers and an "undeserved" bailout, but not, it seems, to the lot of the wealthy minority and even financial speculators. This helps explain, for example, public acceptance of ending estate taxes (which affect only the very rich). Cowan's conclusions are rather pessimistic: inequality will continue to grow and future financial crises are likely if not inevitable.
American acceptance of inequality is an important blind spot, however, because inequality is perceived very differently in much of the world. Those perceptions poison international relations, fueling resentment and anger. True, visions of America from abroad are confusing, tinged as they are with a mixture of admiration, envy, disgust, and anger. The wealth that Americans enjoy (or are seen to enjoy via the media) is, however, rarely seen as earned fairly. The rules are seen as profoundly stacked against poor countries in fundamental, unfair ways.
Fighting corruption in international aid is important and possible. But high standards and respect for other cultures can and must go together. Rosen's insights underscore the need for more subtle leadership in that battle. Americans may not be exercised by abstract talk of inequality and they may be indifferent to resentment from abroad. But growing inequalities within the United States and in the world are an insidious challenge to America's basic ideals and to our commitment to a fair and prosperous future. We need to get serious about coming to terms with what it means and act on it.
