ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents some of the key concepts discussed in the next subsequent chapters. It offers the thesis that when modernizing countries buy rapid social modernization at the price of the decay of political institutions, corruption and violence become alternative means of making demands upon the system. The part asserts that the levels of public corruption in most Asian countries have risen rather than declined after the accession to independence. It aims to attribute the growth of general cynicism to the unwillingness of post-independence governments to raise the issue lest in so doing they stimulate it further, thus strengthening socio-cultural patterns that encourage corrupt practices. The part identifies several important contingencies bearing upon the consequences of corruption. Cases of corruption differ as well; with the level at which they occur, the kinds of stakes or inducements involved, and the seriousness of the deviation from stated norms and procedures.
