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Political:
-Relating to the government or the public affairs of a country.
Corruption:
-Dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery.

Examples of Political Corruption:

Bribery:
-The giving or offering of a bribe.

Patronage:
-The support given by a patron.

Nepotism and Cronyism:
N:
-The practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs.
C:
-The appointment of friends and associates to positions of authority, without proper regard to their qualifications.

Gombeenism and Parochialism:

G:
-The lending of money at usurious interest.
P:
-A limited or narrow outlook, especially focused on a local area; narrow-mindedness.

Electoral Fraud:
E:
-Relating to elections or electors.
F:
-Wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain.

Embezzlement:

-Theft or misappropriation of funds placed in one's trust or belonging to one's employer.

Kickbacks:
-A sudden forceful recoil.

(All info is straight from Google)

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Government - the governing body of a nation, state, or community.
Corruption - dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery.
Political - relating to the government or the public affairs of a country.
Instability - lack of stability; the state of being unstable.

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Sustainable development goal number eight, Peace and Justice, fits what the Romans are striving to get. Government corruption and Political Instability in Rome caused chaos and injustice to the Roman empire. People of Rome suffered from unfair treatment, ad developed mistrust towards the Roman government. Soon, over time, the people of Rome would fight back against the government and rebel, which would lead to violence and even more injustice. This goal is linked to the problem in Rome since because the Roman didn't have Peace and Justice, it was one of the major problems that lead to Rome's downfall.
site: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjwL5vWqp-Y

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People need to get decent jobs, where they work in a comfortable environment with well paid hours, but sometimes people cannot work in good jobs. People would not have much money, so the demand for cheap things would go up, causing businesses to cut back since they can give the workers little money. In some countries, farmers have to work their butt off, working for hours, but only receive little money for all of their efforts. That is why people all around the world are trying to help. For example, the governments decided to create laws so that farmers get enough money to live a normal life. Work should be safe, enjoyable and most importantly comfortable with the worker.

Site:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcZamDv2DZQ

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Leaders use their powers for selfish gain today.

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Leaders use their powers for selfish gain today.

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Bribery:
-"Throughout history, large companies have always shown a disdain of the laws and regulations. You can find numerous examples about companies breaking laws, and profiting off these activities by billions or even tens of billions of dollars in some cases. After all, when GSK (NYSE:GSK) was fined $3 billion for misleading people and unlawfully promoting several drugs. And while you may think that $3 billion is a really major amount, the fact is that many people thought this was a very small fine since the company generated around $25 billion from the sale of these drugs. So basically, the net revenue that the company earned from breaking regulations was around $22 billion."

Trading in influence/Patronage:
-"Political Action Committees. Law Enforcement hiring practices. State governments in the United States."

Nepotism and cronyism:
-"In 2017, President Donald Trump was accused of nepotism after appointing both his son-in-law Jared Kushner and his daughter Ivanka (married to Kushner) into advisory roles to the president. But neither Jared nor Ivanka took a salary, and "advisor" is not an official paid government employee position."

Gombeenism and parochialism:
-"The type of education received from a catholic school."

Electoral fraud:

-"Tracey Kay McKee, of Scottsdale, was indicted by a grand jury on one count of illegal voting and one count of perjury. McKee, a registered Republican, cast a ballot in the name of her deceased mother in the 2020 general election. She pleaded guilty to one count of illegal voting, a felony, was sentenced to two years of probation, and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service, and ordered to pay $2,144 in fines and fees."

Embezzlement:
"Forging Checks. In this type of embezzlement, an employee writes a company check to themselves, then cooks books to conceal the theft. Cashing Customer Checks. In this instance, a member of staff endorses client checks and cashes them, then keeps the money. Overbilling Customers."

Kickbacks:
"Gifts. Any gift of above nominal value, including things such as food, event tickets, and gift cards, is an improper kickback."

"Five cases of trouble at the top", link:

https://www.transparency.org/en/news/cpi-2020-trouble-at-the-top-cases
"Election Fraud Cases", link:
https://www.heritage.org/voterfraud/search
(The rest of the info was from google)

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In this article we are going to list the 15 biggest bribery cases in business history. Click to skip ahead and jump to the 5 biggest bribery cases in business history.

Bribery is part of human life, and it is a part of civilization. No matter where you live, you will see bribery happening, either on a small scale or on a large scale. For example, if you live in a developing country, you will see breaking laws such as traffic signals or not wearing seatbelts with impunity. They're not afraid of their license being cancelled or being hauled off to jail, as the traffic cops who are stopping them are susceptible to small bribes of only a few dollars each, and the person breaking the law can get off scot-free. This may seem like a small thing but these people then don't see any reason to follow laws and this can result in increased traffic accidents, which in turn can result in death. As you can see, small actions have large consequences. Large actions have even larger consequences.

Throughout history, large companies have always shown a disdain of the laws and regulations. You can find numerous examples about companies breaking laws, and profiting off these activities by billions or even tens of billions of dollars in some cases. After all, when GSK ( NYSE:GSK) was fined $3 billion for misleading people and unlawfully promoting several drugs. And while you may think that $3 billion is a really major amount, the fact is that many people thought this was a very small fine since the company generated around $25 billion from the sale of these drugs. So basically, the net revenue that the company earned from breaking regulations was around $22 billion.

As I mentioned before, it has always been part and parcel of major corporations to flaunt rules and disregard authority, and bribery falls within this ambit as well. Even up to a few decades ago, laws weren't even close to as stringent as they are today, and companies weren't as closely monitored or regulated. In fact, back then, it was the norm to pay officials, especially foreign officials bribes in money and gifts to get them to expedite the process and reduce the expenses of the company. It was a worthwhile trade, though still completely illegal; the company got to save time and money and the officials pocketed the extra amount.

Copyright: carlosyudica / 123RF Stock Photo

Over the past decade or so, laws have started to tighten, especially after the financial crisis which ruined lives, careers and the economy of the entire world. That financial institutions were able to manipulate the market to such an extent and mostly escape without major repercussions was a major blow to the trust held in the financial system of the company. Hence, new rules and regulations were quickly drafted and brought into law, to ensure that banks didn't do anything like that ever again. Many financial institutions were fined for billions of dollars, though again, while that may seem like a major achievement, it's a drop in the bucket for these companies with hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue annually.

Of course, bribery and corruption isn't just a United States thing. It is a global phenomena and present everywhere in the world. However, most of the biggest companies in the world are present in the United States, which is why when there is a scandal related to these companies, it hits headlines all across the world. All, major companies in the US are well-known to everyone across the world which is why whenever any incident related to them occurs, it piques the interest of everyone, even if they're not located in the US or have ever engaged in business with these companies.

The biggest bribery cases are extremely interesting reads on their own. And these are just the ones we know about. Some of these are epic sagas that don't care about borders and involve many companies as well as many countries. So sit back, grab some popcorn and learn about the biggest bribery cases in history, which should and often do have movies made about them, starting with number 15:

15. Inter-American Water and Utility Society

The company ended up paying around $1.5 million in fines for bribery cases in Columbia.

Pixabay/Public Domain

13. Troika Laundromat

Troika isn't a single company, or even 10 companies. The collective term Troika Laundromat was given to around 70 shell companies which were formed to launder massive amounts of money. Billions of dollars ended up moving from Russia to the West, with bribes being paid to mix black and white money, and ensure that no one could differentiate anymore.

Gajus/Shutterstock.com

12. Daimler

The producers of one of the most famous brands in the automobile industry, Mercedez-Benz, paid $185 million to the United States against charges of bribery and corruption in 2010. Foreign officials were provided with money and gifts between the time period of 1998 and 2008 to get government contracts, and more than $56 million were paid on around 200 occasions in at least 22 countries.

Copyright: felker / 123RF Stock Photo

11. Titan

It is now owned by L3 Technologies ( NYSE:LHX), but when it was independent, Titan, a defense company, received the biggest fine in history at the time by the FCPA, which totaled more than $28.5 million back in 2004. $13 million of this pertained to foreign bribery including in Benin, where the bribery took place to get a contract and establish business within the country. $2 million in bribes were directly sent to the President of Benin.

10. GlaxoSmithKline

We mentioned earlier that GSK earned a fine of $3 billion for its role in the scandal related to misrepresenting its drugs including Wellbutrin and Paxil. However, that's not all. The company also paid kickbacks to physicians to prefer their drugs over those of the competition and promoting it for situations the drug was not intended for.

Pixabay/Public Domain

9. Lucent Technologies

To win lucrative contracts from China, Lucent Technologies, which doesn't exist anymore, would pay for more than 1,000 Chinese officials to travel to destinations such as Las Vegas. The company paid $2.5 million in fines. Later, when the company had been absorbed by Alcatel, there were even more such cases, which are mentioned in more detail below, in our list of the biggest bribery cases in business history.

EvgeniiAnd/Shutterstock.com

8. Kellogg Brown and Root (NYSE:KBR)

The American engineering company has been involved in several controversies throughout its existence, one of which was the Justice Department charging the company with paying bribes worth billions of dollars to Nigerian officials to earn foreign contracts. The company ended up paying $402 million in fines while its former CEO was sentenced to 30 months in prison.

7. BAE Systems

One of the biggest defense companies in the world, BAE Systems was engaged in controversy in 2006, where it was accused of using corruption to sell arms to various countries across the world including Chile, Qatar, Tanzania, South Africa, Romania, Saudi Arabia and Czech Republic. Even though it was investigated and later charged by the Serious Fraud Office, BAE refused to concede that it had used bribery, which is why it was not banned from future contracts. However, the company ended up paying $400 million to the US and 30 million pounds to the UK against charges of overseas corruption.

Pixabay/Public Domain

6. Alcatel-Lucent SA

The company was a French American telecommunications company, and among the biggest in the world in this industry. However, in 2010, it was engaged in a massive scandal where it ended up having to pay at least $137 million in fines after bribing officials in several countries including Malaysia, Honduras and Taiwan.

Please continue to see the 5 biggest bribery cases in business history. Suggested articles:

Disclosure: No position. 15 biggest bribery cases in business history is originally published at Insider Monkey.

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15 Biggest Bribery Cases in Business History

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In this article we are going to list the 15 biggest bribery cases in business history. Click to skip ahead and jump to the 5 biggest bribery cases in business history. Bribery is part of human life, and it is a part of civilization. No matter where you live, you will see bribery happening, either [...]

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Government Corruption and Political Instabiliy of Rome

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Government Corruption and Political Instabiliy of Rome

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Because of Rome's sheer size, it made it hard to govern and manage the vast lands, and government corruption only worsened the problem. Government corruption grew increasingly common, as the Roman economical status decreased. Bribery and corruption gave government officials gave them riches and power in society.
Since the Romans never developed a solid way to choose their new leader, the emperor, the choice of the debate was always up to the current emperor, the Praetorian guard, and the Senate. As time passed, the Praetorian guard soon had complete control of the choice of the next emperor. Often, the Praetorian guards are easily bribed, and the newly chosen emperor would give the Praetorians a handsome amount of money in return for their support. The new emperor would then spend Rome's scarce money in their own selfish reasons while leaving the rest of the Roman citizens going poor. In consequence, the citizens of Rome grew distrustful and resentful of the Roman government. This continued cycle would result in ineffective, irresponsible, and selfish governing that added more weight to Rome's already-toppling empire.
Site: https://www.history.com/news/8-reasons-why-rome-fell#:~:text=Invasions%20by%20Barbarian%20tribes,encroached%20beyond%20the%20Empire%27s%20borders

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1. Invasions by Barbarian tribes

The most straightforward theory for Western Rome's collapse pins the fall on a string of military losses sustained against outside forces. Rome had tangled with Germanic tribes for centuries, but by the 300s "barbarian" groups like the Goths had encroached beyond the Empire's borders. The Romans weathered a Germanic uprising in the late fourth century, but in 410 the Visigoth King Alaric successfully sacked the city of Rome. The Empire spent the next several decades under constant threat before "the Eternal City" was raided again in 455, this time by the Vandals. Finally, in 476, the Germanic leader Odoacer staged a revolt and deposed the Emperor Romulus Augustulus. From then on, no Roman emperor would ever again rule from a post in Italy, leading many to cite 476 as the year the Western Empire suffered its deathblow.
WATCH: Full episodes of Colosseum online now. New episodes premiere Sundays at 9/8c on HISTORY.
2. Economic troubles and overreliance on slave labor

Even as Rome was under attack from outside forces, it was also crumbling from within thanks to a severe financial crisis. Constant wars and overspending had significantly lightened imperial coffers, and oppressive taxation and inflation had widened the gap between rich and poor. In the hope of avoiding the taxman, many members of the wealthy classes had even fled to the countryside and set up independent fiefdoms. At the same time, the empire was rocked by a labor deficit. Rome's economy depended on slaves to till its fields and work as craftsmen, and its military might had traditionally provided a fresh influx of conquered peoples to put to work. But when expansion ground to a halt in the second century, Rome's supply of slaves and other war treasures began to dry up. A further blow came in the fifth century, when the Vandals claimed North Africa and began disrupting the empire's trade by prowling the Mediterranean as pirates. With its economy faltering and its commercial and agricultural production in decline, the Empire began to lose its grip on Europe.

3. The rise of the Eastern Empire

The fate of Western Rome was partially sealed in the late third century, when the Emperor Diocletian divided the Empire into two halves-the Western Empire seated in the city of Milan, and the Eastern Empire in Byzantium, later known as Constantinople. The division made the empire more easily governable in the short term, but over time the two halves drifted apart. East and West failed to adequately work together to combat outside threats, and the two often squabbled over resources and military aid. As the gulf widened, the largely Greek-speaking Eastern Empire grew in wealth while the Latin-speaking West descended into economic crisis. Most importantly, the strength of the Eastern Empire served to divert Barbarian invasions to the West. Emperors like Constantine ensured that the city of Constantinople was fortified and well guarded, but Italy and the city of Rome-which only had symbolic value for many in the East-were left vulnerable. The Western political structure would finally disintegrate in the fifth century, but the Eastern Empire endured in some form for another thousand years before being overwhelmed by the Ottoman Empire in the 1400s.

4. Overexpansion and military overspending

At its height, the Roman Empire stretched from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Euphrates River in the Middle East, but its grandeur may have also been its downfall. With such a vast territory to govern, the empire faced an administrative and logistical nightmare. Even with their excellent road systems, the Romans were unable to communicate quickly or effectively enough to manage their holdings. Rome struggled to marshal enough troops and resources to defend its frontiers from local rebellions and outside attacks, and by the second century the Emperor Hadrian was forced to build his famous wall in Britain just to keep the enemy at bay. As more and more funds were funneled into the military upkeep of the empire, technological advancement slowed and Rome's civil infrastructure fell into disrepair.

5. Government corruption and political instability

If Rome's sheer size made it difficult to govern, ineffective and inconsistent leadership only served to magnify the problem. Being the Roman emperor had always been a particularly dangerous job, but during the tumultuous second and third centuries it nearly became a death sentence. Civil war thrust the empire into chaos, and more than 20 men took the throne in the span of only 75 years, usually after the murder of their predecessor. The Praetorian Guard-the emperor's personal bodyguards-assassinated and installed new sovereigns at will, and once even auctioned the spot off to the highest bidder. The political rot also extended to the Roman Senate, which failed to temper the excesses of the emperors due to its own widespread corruption and incompetence. As the situation worsened, civic pride waned and many Roman citizens lost trust in their leadership.

6. The arrival of the Huns and the migration of the Barbarian tribes

The Barbarian attacks on Rome partially stemmed from a mass migration caused by the Huns' invasion of Europe in the late fourth century. When these Eurasian warriors rampaged through northern Europe, they drove many Germanic tribes to the borders of the Roman Empire. The Romans grudgingly allowed members of the Visigoth tribe to cross south of the Danube and into the safety of Roman territory, but they treated them with extreme cruelty. According to the historian Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman officials even forced the starving Goths to trade their children into slavery in exchange for dog meat. In brutalizing the Goths, the Romans created a dangerous enemy within their own borders. When the oppression became too much to bear, the Goths rose up in revolt and eventually routed a Roman army and killed the Eastern Emperor Valens during the Battle of Adrianople in A.D. 378. The shocked Romans negotiated a flimsy peace with the barbarians, but the truce unraveled in 410, when the Goth King Alaric moved west and sacked Rome. With the Western Empire weakened, Germanic tribes like the Vandals and the Saxons were able to surge across its borders and occupy Britain, Spain and North Africa.

7. Christianity and the loss of traditional values

The decline of Rome dovetailed with the spread of Christianity, and some have argued that the rise of a new faith helped contribute to the empire's fall. The Edict of Milan legalized Christianity in 313, and it later became the state religion in 380. These decrees ended centuries of persecution, but they may have also eroded the traditional Roman values system. Christianity displaced the polytheistic Roman religion, which viewed the emperor as having a divine status, and also shifted focus away from the glory of the state and onto a sole deity. Meanwhile, popes and other church leaders took an increased role in political affairs, further complicating governance. The 18th-century historian Edward Gibbon was the most famous proponent of this theory, but his take has since been widely criticized. While the spread of Christianity may have played a small role in curbing Roman civic virtue, most scholars now argue that its influence paled in comparison to military, economic and administrative factors.

8. Weakening of the Roman legions

For most of its history, Rome's military was the envy of the ancient world. But during the decline, the makeup of the once mighty legions began to change. Unable to recruit enough soldiers from the Roman citizenry, emperors like Diocletian and Constantine began hiring foreign mercenaries to prop up their armies. The ranks of the legions eventually swelled with Germanic Goths and other barbarians, so much so that Romans began using the Latin word "barbarus" in place of "soldier." While these Germanic soldiers of fortune proved to be fierce warriors, they also had little or no loyalty to the empire, and their power-hungry officers often turned against their Roman employers. In fact, many of the barbarians who sacked the city of Rome and brought down the Western Empire had earned their military stripes while serving in the Roman legions.

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The most straightforward theory for Western Rome's collapse pins the fall on a string of military losses sustained against outside forces. Rome had tangled with Germanic tribes for centuries, but by the 300s "barbarian" groups like the Goths had encroached beyond the Empire's borders.