Corruption – a Review of Selected Conceptions

The problem of economic crime, especially corruption, is increasingly cited as a serious barrier to growth. Also in Poland, due to the magnitude it has reached, corruption has become a serious problem disrupting economic activity. There is also increasing talk of its devastating impact on the state and the emerging civil society. This is evidenced by reports of successive scandals in successive governments and at all levels of public administration. At the same time, there have recently been opinions in press discussions that corruption itself may be less harmful to the democratic system than fighting it. Despite the noticeable intensification of the phenomenon in contemporary Poland, there is little interest in corruption on the part of scholars. Only the analyses of Antoni Z. Kamiński [1997] and Andrzej Kojder [1992] and the work of Jacek Kurczewski’s team [Kurczewski, Łaciak, 2000] on case studies draw attention. Jacek Kurczewski [1999] also investigated the perception of corruption. An economic analysis of corruption was undertaken by Kazimierz Tarchalski [2000]. Legal issues related to corruption in contemporary Poland were analysed by Ewa Łętowska [1995]. In view of the small number of works dealing with corruption in Poland, especially in the economic sciences, it seems justified to present this issue. Corruption has long been the subject of economic, sociological, political, historical and legal analyses.