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Poles - the Nation of Liars? [478]
Please, give me examples of this cheating and lying. I particularly want to see how you came to the conclusion that it's "deep-rooted" in the Polish community specifically, as opposed to other communities.
Role of Non-Governmental Organisations in the Process of Corruption Limitation
Grażyna Kopińska - director of the Stefan Batory Foundation's Anti-Corruption Program
Democracy in Poland, still being in its formative stages, faces a number of threats; one of the more significant of these is the alienation of authority. The lack of effective mechanisms for societal control over those in power fosters a corruption of the system on the one hand and a growing feeling of helplessness among ever-greater circles of the citizenry on the other. This is a very dangerous phenomenon in that it can lead either to thorough corruption of the system (there is a general, if tacit, acknowledgement that, in order to get anything accomplished, one must allow for a kick-back, a cut of the contract value, etc) or to entrenchment of the sentiment that the authorities are, by their very nature, evil and immoral and - as such - should be ignored in the unobtrusive pursuing one's own interests (if such views permanently establish themselves, the next step may well comprise a longing for a strong-handed ruler promising moral renewal and punishment of the guilty).
Already today is Polish society dominated by the view that corruption is a malady to which all levels of power are susceptible, a diagnosis which finds corroboration in the annual research carried out by Transparency International, in reports of the World Bank and of Poland's Supreme Chamber of Control, and in the studies about the social perception of corruption carried out by Demoskop and CBOS on instructions from my own programme. Poland scores someplace in the middle of all the international rankings, being as distant from, say, Denmark as from Yugoslavia or Nigeria. It is worthwhile to consider for a moment how the situation in Poland differs from that prevailing in the countries on either end of such a scale. A Dane or a Swede, the inhabitant of a country which is just about corruption-free, may occasionally read a newspaper article about a corrupt politician or about a minister abusing her/his powers, but it is highly unlikely that he himself will ever slip a bribe to a physician, policeman, or to a magistrate clerk. And it is this involvement in small-scale, quotidian corruption - "street corruption", as it is sometimes referred to - which is the common lot of many people in Poland. In a study by Dr Anna Kubiak commissioned by the Against Corruption Programme and the Institute of Public Affairs (carried out by the CBOS Centre for Social Opinion Research in November of 2000), only 14% of the respondents admitted to giving or accepting bribes. When, however, this result was adjusted to take into account the honesty of the responses, it ended up looking drastically different, with the percentage of bribe-givers swelling to 56%.
The difference, meanwhile, between Poland and, for instance, Ukraine lies in the fact that, in Poland, corruption is a phenomenon which, although commonplace enough, is still a pathology, a factor which interferes with the system. It yet has to become an inherent element of the system of power.
Combating corruption in places where it already occurs is very difficult in that both parties concerned, he who offers the bribe and he who takes it have an interest in keeping their offence a secret. It is for this reason that the prevention of corruption assumes paramount importance.
All the different entities participating in public life have a meaningful and distinct role to play in fighting corruption.
Magdelena, I hope you are not going to tell me that corruption is not lying, cheating or stealing.
Could you give a first hand expierience of that cheating and lying? I mean your own personal experience with Polish people lying and cheating you.
A.K, the fact that you are trying to defend a case that lying, cheating and corruption is not deep rooted in the Polish psyche, means you must be considered to be a liar or at best deluded.
It's mot lying, just a way of ducking you. No one in poland will tell you straightforward that he won't help you/like you/go for your party.
Thank you a.k. we are now in agreement. Poles never tell you what they believe and are not straightforward.
