Bribery and Extortion: Undermining Business, Governments, and Security

by Alexandra Addison Wrage

Overview

Bribery plays a significant role in international criminal activity. Terrorists pay bribes. Money-launderers pay bribes. Those who traffic in people, narcotics, and illegal arms pay bribes. People pay immigration officers not to ask, customs officials not to inspect, and police officers not to investigate. Bribes follow patterns that are not at all mysterious to the officials, salesmen, and citizens who seek them and pay them. Using a series of international cases, Wrage examines bribery, peeling back the mystique and ambiguity and exposing the very simple transactions that lie beneath. She shows how these seemingly everyday transactions can affect security, democratization, and human aid. Examples from around the world help to illustrate the nature of the problem and efforts at combating it.

Bribery plays a significant role in international criminal activity. Terrorists pay bribes. Money-launderers pay bribes. Those who traffic in people, narcotics, and illegal arms pay bribes. People pay immigration officers not to ask, customs officials not to inspect, and police officers not to investigate. At corporate headquarters in the United States, it can be easy to dismiss modest bribes in distant countries as an unfortunate cost of doing business. Bribes follow patterns that are not at all mysterious to the officials, salesmen, and citizens who seek them and pay them. Using a series of international cases, Wrage examines bribery, peeling back the mystique and ambiguity and exposing the very simple transactions that lie beneath. She shows how these seemingly everyday transactions can affect security, democratization, and human aid around the globe.

Bribery and Extortion presents a clear picture of the world of bribery and the havoc it can wreak on whole populations. Wrage covers commercial bribery, administrative and service-based bribery, and extortion. She considers bribery and extortion at both high levels of government and lower levels on the street. Examples from around the world help to illustrate the nature of the problem and efforts at combating it. The book concludes with practical suggestions and an assessment of current efforts to stem the tide of bribery and restore transparency to everyday transactions in all realms.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275996499
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	09/30/2007
Series:	Praeger Security International
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.44(d)

About the Author

Alexandra Addison Wrage is an international attorney and President of TRACE International, a nonprofit, anti-bribery business association with over 1,000 corporate members in more than 100 countries. She has worked as in-house counsel for both Northrop Grumman Corporation and MCI Communications. She has written numerous articles on practical anti-bribery strategies and speaks frequently on topics of international law and the hidden costs of corruption.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction Thieves, Thugs, and Kleptocrats
Chapter 1 Dimensions of Bribery
Chapter 2 The High Cost of Small Bribes
Chapter 3 Gifts, Favors, and Hospitality
Chapter 4 Undermining Confidence in Government
Chapter 5 Distorting Business
Chapter 6 International Embarrassment
Chapter 7 Preying on the Public
Chapter 8 Mounting Impatience
Conclusion Modest Optimism
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Alberto Mora

"Bribery and Extortion is a brilliant and important book. Although reports of instances of corruption can be found in the newspapers almost every day, systemic analyses of its forms, causes, and costs are much harder to find. Alexandra Wrage's book fills this gap admirably and provides a compelling anatomical dissection of an insufficiently understood social pathology. Citing U.S. and international examples, Wrage demonstrates that corruption is not only an economic problem, but it corrodes every thing it touches—legal foundations, governments, and even cultures. No one can read the book and fail to come away with a much more acute understanding of the threat posed by the many variants of corruption at all levels and sectors of society, or by the need to address this threat with greater urgency and purpose."

Brackett Denniston

"In this book, Alexandra Wrage writes compellingly and effectively about the corrosive impact of bribery on public trust, the rule of law, and society as a whole. This book is an important one and reminds us all how we must continue to strive in the long global fight against bribery and extortion. International markets are undermined by corruption, and citizens around the world suffer directly and indirectly from its costs. This book challenges society to do more."

Paul A. Volcker

"Alexandra Wrage has seen it all—the corrupt practices embedded in so much of the emerging world, the thinly disguised bribes so common in the world of commerce, the seemingly victimless facilitating payments that grease transactions with officials or private parties. Her insightful analysis and convincing conclusions are set forth with clarity and vigor. Bribery and Extortion should be required reading—and it's lively reading—for all of those concerned with maintaining the rule of law, spurring economic development, and restoring trust in governments—local, national, and international."

Editorial Reviews

Wrage documents numerous horror stories, drawing on published sources and on her own experiences with TRACE, an antibribery nongovernmental organization. There is a sophisticated discussion of the transition from customary gift giving to modern bribery….The author sees exposure as the best antidote—making transactions with foreign or domestic public money as transparent as possible and raising the salience of bribery on the international agenda.” —Foreign Affairs

“Wrage, an international attorney, analyzes the practices of bribery and extortion in this volume aimed at businesspeople, employees of nongovernmental organizations, editorial writers, government officials, undergraduates, jourbanalists, and others. She describes the broad impact of bribery and uses stories told to her personally as well as those in the media. She concentrates on public sector (government) bribery and international instances, its dimensions and types; the effects of small bribes; gifts, favors, and hospitality; the effects on governments; companies that pay government officials; internationally-known instances, such as the Olympics scandal and the UN Oil-for-Food Program; and suppression methods.” —SciTech Book News

“The book presents a clear picture of the world of bribery and the havoc it can wreak on whole populations in some instances. Commercial bribery, administrative and service-based bribery, and extortion are covered, both at high levels of government and lower levels on the street. Examples from around the world help to illustrate the nature of the problem and efforts at combating it. The book concludes with practical suggestions and an assessment of current efforts to stem the tide of bribery and restore transparency to everyday transactions in all realms.” —wishlistlibmon.blogspot.com

From the Publisher