Geoffery Robertson Quotes

Besides being a prime cause of poor economic growth, poor governance breeds corruption, which cripples investment, wastes resources, and diminishes confidence.

I knew President Yeltsin well. He would never have tolerated government officials demonstratively showing off the millions they acquired through corruption, the way it's done today.

In a state where corruption abounds, laws must be very numerous.

Some governments are corrupt but are known for their competency in running the city. Others are incompetent but are considered "clean." [Washington] DC's government is scandalously corrupt and hopelessly incompetent.

Corruption could lead to the collapse of the Party [Communist Party of China] and the downfall of the State.

Ukraine gives corruption a bad name…. The Ukrainian politicians have ripped off everything in the country that was not nailed down, and then they turned to the stuff that was nailed down.

Corruption is an endemic evil—a cultural problem, not only for Mexico but for all Latin America

Corruption is... the result of a decadent political regime. We are absolutely convinced that this evil is the main cause of social and economic inequality, and also that corruption is to blame for the violence in our country.

We are all aware that corruption is pervasive. It operates at every level. The poor may carry its greatest burden, but it is an affliction that every Indian is desperate to be rid of.

I think the American government is now the most corrupt government in the world.

Unfortunately, corruption is widespread in government agencies and public enterprises. Our political system promotes nepotism and wasting money. This has undermined our legal system and confidence in the functioning of the state. One of the consequences is that many citizens don't pay their taxes.

If you don't pay bribes, people think you're odd. It's very sad. I cannot say that I'm proud to be an Indonesian. This is one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

The U.S. increasingly has taken on the characteristics of what we describe as 'failed states.'

The Government of Afghanistan could best be understood, not as a government at all, but as a vertically integrated criminal organization whose care activity was not in fact exercising the functions of a state, but of rather extracting resources for personal gain.

[Lobbying] has reached such a position of power that it threatens the government itself. Its size, its power, its capacity for evil; its greed, trickery, deception and fraud condemn it to the death it deserves.

The greatest of all evils is a weak government.

Aid corrupts.

The Mexican government has been corrupt for 140 years.

By all means, make him [Democrat General Lewis Cass] President, gentlemen. He will feed you bounteously – if there is any left after he has helped himself.

We have a lot of poverty and a great deal of money coming into the country. This is a recipe for corruption. We have just prosecuted high government officials for corruption for the first time in Afghan history.

Corruption reflects the power distance between civil servants and the public, particularly for citizens in remote areas.

Corruption is a greater danger to us in Afghanistan than the Taliban…. It starts with President Karzai and goes all the way down. It’s just rotten from top to bottom over there.

Corruption hits hardest at the poorest in society, those with limited or no possibilities to defend themselves. But corruption affects the whole of society as well. Decisions supposedly taken for the public good are in truth motivated by a desire for private gain and result in policies and projects that impoverish rather than enrich a country.

Corruption has also proved difficult to root out because it is not simply a matter of the powerful preying on the weak.… graft and fraud can offer ways for a poor person to climb the socioeconomic ladder.

… the independent Afghan government that followed the ouster of the Taliban descended into catastrophic corruption, incompetence, and double-dealing, and many Afghans blamed American intervention for the mess in their country.