ABSTRACT
Corruption reflects a variety of influences, some constant over the long term and others embodying major changes. Its scope and incidence are complicated issues: extremely corrupt societies encompass honest people and agencies, while in countries or regions where the problem is less pronounced there are still pockets of venality, and vulnerabilities to the future emergence of corrupt officials and activities. At one level, these complex cause-and-effect connections make it difficult to say how corruption affects a society, for as John Waterbury has pointed out, we can only make educated guesses as to what might have developed without it. Globalization, the end of the cold war, and such new international policies as the OECD Anti-Bribery Treaty and the anti-corruption convention negotiated by the Organization of American States have all changed the political and economic context of corruption, and have arguably strengthened the forces arrayed against it.
