![]() “If governments want to gain political and sometimes personal interests for their people and institutions, corruption spreads,” says Vamik Volkan, an emeritus professor of the University of Virginia, a leading expert on political psychology and on the roots of worldwide conflicts. The nature of the large US military budget affects not only the internal workings of the American economy but also foreign countries like Afghanistan, where US military contractors are provided, “because corruption can seep into the local economy as well,” Vine tells TRT World. “When it comes to the US, the American military and war budget are so large that they have been compromised by corruption and military contractors,” says David Vine, professor of anthropology at the American University, who wrote books on the extensive nature of US military bases around the world. Like Russians in Syria, Americans in Afghanistan closed their eyes to those illicit arrangements, even allowing US-linked figures like Erik Prince to cooperate with Afghan warlords. In Afghanistan, the US-backed Afghan government has made warlords rich across the country in exchange for their support for Kabul against groups like the Taliban. “These governments are often starting from low levels of accountability and transparency, which are then further diminished in conflict conditions,” Siegel notes. Because countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan are highly polarised for various reasons, those governments in power find “a justification for the redirecting state resources by government authorities at even greater levels,” according to Siegel. Siegel thinks that conflicts create “enabling conditions for corruption”. Individuals and networks involved in the illicit exploitation of natural resources during times of conflict also benefit from ongoing instability and the absence of oversight,” Siegel says. ![]() “They, therefore, may see incentives in the perpetuation of a conflict. “There are cases where some government officials and private sector actors thrive under a war economy and their control of key supply chains that are needed in times of conflict (for example, weapons, finance, and manufacturing materials),” Siegel tells TRT World. But, then, Abu Dhabi made peace with Damascus in the middle of the war. Interestingly, most of Makhlouf’s assets are located in the UAE, which was an avowed enemy of the Assad regime at the beginning of the civil war. Makhlouf now faces a corruption investigation in Syria. “Makhlouf is more than just a mere name, he is a shadow ruler of the country’s black markets, a key financial pillar of its flailing economy,” wrote Danny Makki, a Syrian political analyst, last year. Mahklouf has reportedly developed strong connections in the black markets. This kind of scenario is clear in the Syrian situation where the civil war has led to even more corruption as the Bashar al Assad regime has enabled members of the ruling class to benefit from the political chaos, making people like Rami Makhlouf, the cousin of Bashar al Assad, rich. Do civil wars lead to corruption because they disrupt ordinary market transactions and lead some officials to develop sidelines in the black market?” asks Rose-Ackerman, who has extensively written on corruption. “The problem is to determine the direction of causation. However, the cases you mention suggest that a connection can exist,” Suzan Rose-Ackerman, an emeritus professor of law and political science at Yale University, tells TRT World. “Of course, not all countries with high corruption are in the midst of civil wars. This is significantly higher than any other quartile of countries,” says Joseph Siegle, Director of Research in Africa Center for Strategic Studies at National Defense University. Half of the countries in the bottom quartile of Transparency International’s latest Corruption Perceptions Index are in conflict. “There is a very strong connection between corruption and war. In a war, public accountability for political actors also becomes an increasingly difficult task, which creates the perfect conditions for corruption, giving politicians free rein to use their power to promote their own interests.įrom Syria to Afghanistan, corrupt governments in Damascus or Kabul have little public support or political legitimacy, but their rule has been enabled by foreign powers like the US in the case of Afghanistan and Russia and Iran in the case of Syria. Experts define corruption as the “misuse of public power for private or political gain”, and during conflict, the potential for “misuse of public power” no doubt increases.
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