A social fund (sometimes also called Social Investment Fund , Social Fund for Development , Social Action Fund , National Solidarity Fund or Social Development Agency ) is an institution, typically in a developing country , that provides financing (usually grants) for small-scale public investments targeted at meeting the needs of poor and vulnerable communities. Social Funds also aim at contributing to social capital and development at the local level. In many cases they serve as innovators and demonstrators of new methods of decentralized participatory decision-making, management, and accountability that may be adopted for broader application by public sector organizations.
70-595: The term social fund may refer to: Social fund in developing countries which provides financing (usually grants) for small-scale public investments The European Social Fund the UK's Social Fund , part of the system of Social Security. the Russian Social Fund , part of the system of Social Security. Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
140-440: A contract to a company that is not the best bidder, or allocate more than they deserve. In this case, the company benefits, and in exchange for betraying the public, the official receives a kickback payment, which is a portion of the sum the company received. This sum itself may be all or a portion of the difference between the actual (inflated) payment to the company and the (lower) market-based price that would have been paid had
210-719: A Social Fund also exists in Romania , a country that has recently joined the EU , as well as in many other Eastern European countries. Probably the largest Social Fund is the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) with a resource base of US$ 500 million. Social Funds have channeled close to US$ 5 billion of World Bank funding in Africa alone between 1999 and 2005 and have channeled more than ten billion dollars from all donors and governments' own resources over
280-599: A contract, job or exemption from certain tasks in the case of junior worker handing in the gift to a senior employee who can be key in winning the favor. Some forms of corruption – now called " institutional corruption " – are distinguished from bribery and other kinds of obvious personal gain. For example, certain state institutions may consistently act against the interests of the public, such as by misusing public funds for their own interest, or by engaging in illegal or immoral behavior with impunity. Bribery and overt criminal acts by individuals may not necessarily be evident, but
350-399: A dissociation makes the prosecution of bribery offences easier since it can be very difficult to prove that two parties (the bribe-giver and the bribe-taker) have formally agreed upon a corrupt deal. In addition, there is often no such formal deal but only a mutual understanding, for instance when it is common knowledge in a municipality that to obtain a building permit one has to pay a "fee" to
420-494: A distinction between this form of corruption and some forms of extreme and loosely regulated lobbying where for instance law- or decision-makers can freely "sell" their vote, decision power or influence to those lobbyists who offer the highest compensation, including where for instance the latter act on behalf of powerful clients such as industrial groups who want to avoid the passing of specific environmental, social, or other regulations perceived as too stringent, etc. Where lobbying
490-551: A few hundred people or less, often in rural areas) administrate funds themselves and choose where to invest them, thus increasing transparency and accountability for the use of funds. This approach also builds the self-confidence and capacity of local communities. It also helps projects to better meet local needs. Social Funds have been criticized for displacing or weakening existing institutions such as sectoral ministries and departments, particularly since they often - but not always - offer salaries that are significantly higher than in
560-458: A higher negative impact on firms' activity than taxation. Indeed, a one percentage point increase in bribes reduces firm's annual growth by three percentage points, while an increase in 1 percentage point on taxes reduces firm's growth by one percentage point. Corruption also generates economic distortion in the public sector by diverting public investment into capital projects where bribes and kickbacks are more plentiful. Officials may increase
630-511: A politician's acceptance of bribes. Gombeenism refers to an individual who is dishonest and corrupt for the purpose of personal gain, often monetary, while parochialism, which is also known as parish pump politics, relates to placing local or vanity projects ahead of the national interest. For instance in Irish politics, populist left wing political parties will often apply these terms to mainstream establishment political parties and will cite
700-464: A profit. The 20th century is full of many examples of governments undermining the food security of their own nations – sometimes intentionally. The scale of humanitarian aid to the poor and unstable regions of the world grows, but it is highly vulnerable to corruption, with food aid, construction and other highly valued assistance as the most at risk. Food aid can be directly and physically diverted from its intended destination, or indirectly through
770-427: A sector leads others in the sector to engage in corruption. It is argued that the following conditions are favorable for corruption: Thomas Jefferson observed a tendency for "The functionaries of every government ... to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit [for liberty and property] ... without information. Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all
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#1732791943910840-551: Is (sufficiently) regulated, it becomes possible to provide for a distinctive criteria and to consider that trading in influence involves the use of "improper influence", as in article 12 of the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ETS 173) of the Council of Europe . Patronage refers to favoring supporters, for example with government employment. This may be legitimate, as when a newly elected government changes
910-574: Is a form of illegitimate private gain. This may be combined with bribery , for example demanding that a business should employ a relative of an official controlling regulations affecting the business. The most extreme example is when the entire state is inherited, as in North Korea or Syria . A lesser form might be in the Southern United States with Good ol' boys, where women and minorities are excluded. A milder form of cronyism
980-478: Is an " old boy network ", in which appointees to official positions are selected only from a closed and exclusive social network – such as the alumni of particular universities – instead of appointing the most competent candidate. Seeking to harm enemies becomes corruption when official powers are illegitimately used as means to this end. For example, trumped-up charges are often brought up against journalists or writers who bring up politically sensitive issues, such as
1050-532: Is based on personal connections than professional achievements. This has led to dramatic increase in the number of professors and exhibits their rapid status loss. Utmost the flawed processes in the academic institutions has led to unbaked graduates who are not well fit to the job market. Corruption hinders the international standards of an education system. Additionally, Plagiarism is a form of corruption in academic research, where it affects originality and disables learning. Individual violations are in close relation to
1120-512: Is called white corruption; this level of corruption is mostly viewed with tolerance and may even be lawful and legitimate; typically based on family ties and patron-client systems. The type of corruption often occurring in constitutional states or state transitioning to a more democratic society is called grey corruption is considered reprehensible according to a society's moral norms, but the persons involved are still mostly lacking any sense of doing something wrong. The third category, black corruption
1190-416: Is estimated to involve over 1 trillion US dollars annually. A state of unrestrained political corruption is known as a kleptocracy , literally meaning "rule by thieves". Trying to influence voters by promising freebies, facilities or favours to a particular section (race, religion, economic level etc) of society is also a kind of political corruption. Perhaps the highest level of corruption occurs when bribe
1260-481: Is government action or inaction that determines its severity, and often even whether or not a famine will occur. Governments with strong tendencies towards kleptocracy can undermine food security even when harvests are good. Officials often steal state property. In Bihar , India , more than 80% of the subsidized food aid to poor is stolen by corrupt officials. Similarly, food aid is often robbed at gunpoint by governments, criminals, and warlords alike, and sold for
1330-557: Is heavily dependent on accountable and transparent systems, proper management of both financial and human resources and timely supply of services to the vulnerable populace of the nation. At the basic level, greed skyrockets corruption. When the structure of the health care system is not adequately addressed beginning from oversight in healthcare delivery and supply of drugs and tendering process, mismanagement and misappropriation of funds will always be observed. Corruption also can undermine health care service delivery which in turn disorients
1400-431: Is not restricted to these activities. Over time, corruption has been defined differently. For example, in a simple context, while performing work for a government or as a representative, it is unethical to accept a gift. Any free gift could be construed as a scheme to lure the recipient towards some biases. In most cases, the gift is seen as an intention to seek certain favors such as work promotion, tipping in order to win
1470-524: Is often most evident in countries with the smallest per capita incomes, relying on foreign aid for health services. Local political interception of donated money from overseas is especially prevalent in Sub-Saharan African nations, where it was reported in the 2006 World Bank Report that about half of the funds that were donated for health usages were never invested into the health sectors or given to those needing medical attention. Instead,
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#17327919439101540-400: Is paid by business houses to make state policy skewed towards them. Corruption is a difficult concept to define. A proper definition of corruption requires a multi-dimensional approach. Machiavelli popularized the oldest dimension of corruption as the decline of virtue among political officials and the citizenry. The psychologist Horst-Eberhard Richter's modernized version defines corruption as
1610-402: Is so severe that it violates a society's norms and laws. The final dimension is called "shadow politics;" this is part of the informal political process that goes beyond legitimate informal political agreements to behavior that is purposefully concealed. Political corruption undermines democracy and good governance by flouting or even subverting formal processes. Corruption in elections and in
1680-707: Is that in Africa, corruption has primarily taken the form of rent extraction with the resulting financial capital moved overseas rather than invested at home (hence the stereotypical, but often accurate, image of African dictators having Swiss bank accounts ). In Nigeria , for example, more than $ 400 billion was stolen from the treasury by Nigeria's leaders between 1960 and 1999. University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers estimated that from 1970 to 1996, capital flight from 30 Sub-Saharan countries totaled $ 187bn, exceeding those nations' external debts. (The results, expressed in retarded or suppressed development, have been modeled in theory by economist Mancur Olson .) In
1750-418: Is the quid pro quo. Corruption always is an exchange between two or more persons/parties where the persons/parties possess economic goods, and the other person/parties possess a transferred power to be used, according to fixed rules and norms, toward a common good. Fourth, there are also different levels of societal perception of corruption. Heidenheimer divides corruption into three categories. The first category
1820-418: Is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary, but can include bribery , lobbying , extortion , cronyism , nepotism , parochialism , patronage , influence peddling , graft , and embezzlement . Corruption may facilitate criminal enterprise such as drug trafficking , money laundering , and human trafficking , though it
1890-466: The legitimacy of government and democratic values such as political trust . Recent evidence suggests that variation in the levels of corruption amongst high-income democracies can vary significantly depending on the level of accountability of decision-makers. Evidence from fragile states also shows that corruption and bribery can adversely impact trust in institutions. Corruption can also impact government's provision of goods and services. It increases
1960-690: The nomenklatura in the Soviet Union , or the Junkers in Imperial Germany ) that support the regime in return for such favors. A similar problem can also be seen in Eastern Europe, for example in Romania , where the government is often accused of patronage (when a new government comes to power it rapidly changes most of the officials in the public sector). Favoring relatives (nepotism) or personal friends (cronyism) of an official
2030-471: The public interest . An early use of the term was by former US President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt : An illustrative example of official involvement in organized crime can be found from the 1920s and 1930s Shanghai , where Huang Jinrong was a police chief in the French concession , while simultaneously being a gang boss and co-operating with Du Yuesheng , the local gang ringleader. The relationship kept
2100-557: The World Bank carried out the first systematic, cross-country evaluation of social funds. The evaluation covered social funds in Armenia, Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru, and Zambia in the fields of education, health, water, and sanitation projects. Outcomes such as poverty targeting, improvement of living standards, sustainability, and cost efficiency were evaluated. The evaluation concluded that social funds are effective at reaching
2170-401: The allocation of contracts and competition places). Cases exist against (members of) various types of non-profit and non-government organizations, as well as religious organizations. Ultimately, the distinction between public and private sector corruption sometimes appears rather artificial, and national anti-corruption initiatives may need to avoid legal and other loopholes in the coverage of
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2240-454: The automotive industry in order to sell low-quality connectors used for instance in safety equipment such as airbags, bribes paid by suppliers to manufacturers of defibrillators (to sell low-quality capacitors), contributions paid by wealthy parents to the "social and culture fund" of a prestigious university in exchange for it to accept their children, bribes paid to obtain diplomas, financial and other advantages granted to unionists by members of
2310-437: The basis and the fabric in which a society is transformed and different facets of well-being are shaped. Corruption in higher education has been prevalent and calls for immediate intervention. Increased corruption in higher education has led to growing global concern among governments, students and educators and other stakeholders. Those offering services in the higher education institutions are facing pressure that highly threatens
2380-792: The bidding been competitive. Another example of a kickback would be if a judge receives a portion of the profits that a business makes in exchange for his judicial decisions. Kickbacks are not limited to government officials; any situation in which people are entrusted to spend funds that do not belong to them are susceptible to this kind of corruption. An unholy alliance is a coalition among seemingly antagonistic groups for ad hoc or hidden gain, generally some influential non-governmental group forming ties with political parties, supplying funding in exchange for favorable treatment. Like patronage, unholy alliances are not necessarily illegal, but unlike patronage, by its deceptive nature and often great financial resources, an unholy alliance can be more dangerous to
2450-500: The case of Africa, one of the factors for this behavior was political instability and the fact that new governments often confiscated previous government's corruptly obtained assets. This encouraged officials to stash their wealth abroad, out of reach of any future expropriation . In contrast, Asian administrations such as Suharto 's New Order often took a cut on business transactions or provided conditions for development, through infrastructure investment, law and order, etc. Corruption
2520-615: The context of decentralization . Social Funds were created as temporary agencies that would be phased out once capacity of line agencies had been strengthened. Some Social Funds, such as in Ethiopia , are now in the process of being phased out, and others, such as in Honduras , are supposed to be closed down by law a few years from now. However, many Social Funds may well remain permanent institutions fulfilling important functions that line agencies may not be well set up to perform. In 2002
2590-457: The cost of business, it also distorts the field of inquiry and action, shielding firms with connections from competition and thereby sustaining inefficient firms. Corruption may have a direct impact on the firm's effective marginal tax rate. Bribing tax officials can reduce tax payments of the firm if the marginal bribe rate is below the official marginal tax rate. However, in Uganda, bribes have
2660-434: The costs of goods and services which arise from efficiency loss. In the absence of corruption, governmental projects might be cost-effective at their true costs, however, once corruption costs are included projects may not be cost-effective so they are not executed distorting the provision of goods and services. In the private sector , corruption increases the cost of business through the price of illicit payments themselves,
2730-511: The culture of corruption extends to every aspect of public life, making it extremely difficult for individuals to operate without resorting to bribes. Bribes may be demanded in order for an official to do something he is already paid to do. They may also be demanded in order to bypass laws and regulations. In addition to their role in private financial gain, bribes are also used to intentionally and maliciously cause harm to another (i.e. no financial incentive). In some developing nations, up to half of
2800-506: The decision maker to obtain a favorable decision. A working definition of corruption is also provided as follows in article 3 of the Civil Law Convention on Corruption (ETS 174): For the purpose of this Convention, "corruption" means requesting, offering, giving or accepting, directly or indirectly, a bribe or any other undue advantage or prospect thereof, which distorts the proper performance of any duty or behavior required of
2870-414: The destruction of crops and places of cultural importance, the breakdown of economic infrastructure and of health-care facilities such as hospitals, etc., etc. Corruption plays a huge role in health care system starting from the hospital, to the government and lifted to the other institutions that promote quality and affordable health care to the people. The efficiency of health care delivery in any country
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2940-447: The difference. A common type of embezzlement is that of personal use of entrusted government resources; for example, when an official assigns public employees to renovate his own house. A kickback is an official's share of misappropriated funds allocated from his or her organization to an organization involved in corrupt bidding . For example, suppose that a politician is in charge of choosing how to spend some public funds. He can give
3010-415: The donated money was expended through " counterfeit drugs , siphoning off of drugs to the black market, and payments to ghost employees". Ultimately, there is a sufficient amount of money for health in developing countries, but local corruption denies the wider citizenry the resource they require. Corruption facilitates environmental destruction. While corrupt societies may have formal legislation to protect
3080-511: The environment, it cannot be enforced if officials can easily be bribed. The same applies to social rights worker protection, unionization prevention, and child labor . Violation of these laws rights enables corrupt countries to gain illegitimate economic advantage in the international market. The Nobel Prize -winning economist Amartya Sen has observed that "there is no such thing as an apolitical food problem." While drought and other naturally occurring events may trigger famine conditions, it
3150-414: The executive board of a car manufacturer in exchange for employer-friendly positions and votes, etc. Examples are endless. These various manifestations of corruption can ultimately present a danger for public health; they can discredit specific, essential institutions or social relationships. Osipian summarized a 2008 "study of corruption perceptions among Russians ... .30 percent of the respondents marked
3220-473: The flow of profits from the gang's gambling dens, prostitution, and protection rackets undisturbed and safe. The United States accused Manuel Noriega 's government in Panama of being a " narcokleptocracy ", a corrupt government profiting on illegal drug trade . Later the U.S. invaded Panama and captured Noriega. Some research indicates that political corruption is contagious: the revelation of corruption in
3290-692: The institution nonetheless acts immorally as a whole. The mafia state phenomenon is an example of institutional corruption. An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties, is done under color of law or involves trading in influence . The activities that constitute illegal corruption differ depending on the country or jurisdiction. For instance, some political funding practices that are legal in one place may be illegal in another. In some cases, government officials have broad or ill-defined powers, which make it difficult to distinguish between legal and illegal actions. Worldwide, bribery alone
3360-446: The instruments. In the context of political corruption, a bribe may involve a payment given to a government official in exchange of his use of official powers. Bribery requires two participants: one to give the bribe, and one to take it. Either may initiate the corrupt offering; for example, a customs official may demand bribes to let through allowed (or disallowed) goods, or a smuggler might offer bribes to gain passage. In some countries
3430-487: The integral value of higher education enterprise. Corruption in higher education has a larger negative influence, it destroys the relation between personal effort and reward anticipation. Moreover, employees and students develop a belief that personal success does not come from hard work and merit but through canvassing with teachers and taking other shortcuts. Academic promotions in the higher education institutions have been disabled by unlimited corruption. Presently, promotion
3500-540: The legislature reduces accountability and distorts representation in policymaking; corruption in the judiciary compromises the rule of law ; and corruption in public administration results in the inefficient provision of services. For republics, it violates a basic principle of republicanism regarding the centrality of civic virtue. More generally, corruption erodes the institutional capacity of government if procedures are disregarded, resources are siphoned off, and public offices are bought and sold. Corruption undermines
3570-499: The level of corruption as very high, while another 44 percent as high. 19 percent considered it as average and only 1 percent as low. The most corrupt in people's minds are traffic police (33 percent), local authorities (28 percent), police (26 percent), healthcare (16 percent), and education (15 percent). 52 percent of the respondents had experiences of giving money or gifts to medical professionals while 36 percent made informal payments to educators." He claimed that this corruption lowered
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#17327919439103640-408: The lives of the poor. Corruption leads to violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms as people supposed to benefit from the basic health care from the governments are denied due to unscrupulous processes driven by greed. Therefore, for a country to keep citizens healthy there must be efficient systems and proper resources that can tame the evils like corruption that underpin it. Education forms
3710-401: The management cost of negotiating with officials and the risk of breached agreements or detection. Although some claim corruption reduces costs by cutting bureaucracy , the availability of bribes can also induce officials to contrive new rules and delays. Openly removing costly and lengthy regulations are better than covertly allowing them to be bypassed by using bribes. Where corruption inflates
3780-679: The manipulation of assessments, targeting, registration and distributions to favor certain groups or individuals. In construction and shelter there are numerous opportunities for diversion and profit through substandard workmanship, kickbacks for contracts and favouritism in the provision of valuable shelter material. Thus while humanitarian aid agencies are usually most concerned about aid being diverted by including too many, recipients themselves are most concerned about exclusion. Access to aid may be limited to those with connections, to those who pay bribes or are forced to give sexual favors. Equally, those able to do so may manipulate statistics to inflate
3850-608: The many cases of Corruption in Ireland , such as the Irish Banking crisis , which found evidence of bribery , cronyism and collusion , where in some cases politicians who were coming to the end of their political careers would receive a senior management or committee position in a company they had dealings with. Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election . Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result, whether by increasing
3920-422: The number of beneficiaries and siphon off additional assistance. Malnutrition, illness, wounds, torture, harassment of specific groups within the population, disappearances, extrajudicial executions and the forcible displacement of people are all found in many armed conflicts. Aside from their direct effects on the individuals concerned, the consequences of these tragedies for local systems must also be considered:
3990-414: The operation ways of a system. Furthermore, the universities may be in relationships and dealings with business and people in government, which majority of them enrol in doctoral studies without the undergraduate program. Consequently, money, power and related influence compromise education standards since they are fueling factors. A Student may finish thesis report within a shorter time upon which compromises
4060-735: The past 20 years. The first Social Fund was created in 1987 in Bolivia . During the 1990s Social Funds spread quickly throughout Latin America and Africa with the intellectual and financial backing of the World Bank and other donors. The first generation social funds were created to serve as short-term safety nets to soften the impact of structural adjustment policies on the poor, which was mainly achieved by providing temporary employment. Second generation social funds have adopted more explicit institutional strategies aimed at empowerment and capacity building of communities as well as local governments in
4130-414: The poor and investments made by social funds enable greater communities' participation and access to basic facilities and services. Some of the benefits of Social Funds have been their ability to better reach poor constituencies, to reduce corruption and to introduce innovations. Social Funds have pioneered community-driven development (CDD), whereby community-based organizations (typically representing
4200-427: The population has paid bribes during the past 12 months. The Council of Europe dissociates active and passive bribery and to incriminates them as separate offences: This dissociation aims to make the early steps (offering, promising, requesting an advantage) of a corrupt deal already an offence and, thus, to give a clear signal (from a criminal-policy point-of-view) that bribery is not acceptable. Furthermore, such
4270-527: The public sector. Another criticism is that there has been no exit strategy to phase out Social Funds, although they were intended to be temporary institutions. There are close to twenty social funds in Africa, including in Social funds in developing countries should not be confused with the European Social Fund or the UK's Social Fund . Political corruption Political corruption
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#17327919439104340-423: The public. Ponzi schemes are an example of embezzlement. Some embezzlers "skim off the top" so that they continually acquire a small amount over a particular time interval. This method reduces the likelihood of being caught. On the other hand, some embezzlers steal a very large amount of goods or funds in a single instance and then disappear. Sometimes company managers underreport income to their supervisors and keep
4410-410: The quality of work delivered and questions the threshold of the higher education. Corruption is not specific to poor, developing, or transition countries. In western countries, cases of bribery and other forms of corruption in all possible fields exist: under-the-table payments made to reputed surgeons by patients attempting to be on top of the list of forthcoming surgeries, bribes paid by suppliers to
4480-488: The rate of economic growth in Russia, because the students disadvantaged by this corruption could not adopt better work methods as quickly, lowering thereby total factor productivity for Russia. Corruption can also affect the various components of sports activities (referees, players, medical and laboratory staff involved in anti-doping controls, members of national sport federation and international committees deciding about
4550-514: The recipient of the bribe, the undue advantage or the prospect thereof. Trading in influence, or influence peddling, refers to a person selling his/her influence over the decision-making process to benefit a third party (person or institution). The difference with bribery is that this is a tri-lateral relation. From a legal point of view, the role of the third party (who is the target of the influence) does not really matter although he/she can be an accessory in some instances. It can be difficult to make
4620-496: The technical complexity of public sector projects to conceal or pave the way for such dealings, thus further distorting investment. Corruption also lowers compliance with construction, environmental, or other regulations, reduces the quality of government services and infrastructure, and increases budgetary pressures on government. Economists argue that one of the factors behind the differing economic development in Africa and Asia
4690-634: The title Social Fund . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Social_Fund&oldid=1146253362 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Social fund In 2007 Social Funds existed in more than 45 countries, predominantly in poorer and smaller developing countries that receive significant official development assistance . However,
4760-509: The top officials in the administration in order to effectively implement its policy. It can be seen as corruption if this means that incompetent persons, as a payment for supporting the regime, are selected before more able ones. In nondemocracies many government officials are often selected for loyalty rather than ability. They may be almost exclusively selected from a particular group (for example, Sunni Arabs in Saddam Hussein 's Iraq,
4830-427: The undermining of political values. Corruption as the decline of virtue has been criticized as too broad and far too subjective to be universalized. The second dimension of corruption is corruption as deviant behavior. Sociologist Christian Höffling and Economist J.J. Sentuira both characterized corruption as social illness; the latter defined corruption as the misuse of public power for one's profit. The third dimension
4900-421: The vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates, or both. Also called voter fraud , the mechanisms involved include illegal voter registration, intimidation at polls, voting computer hacking , and improper vote counting. Embezzlement is the theft of entrusted funds. It is political when it involves public money taken by a public official for use by anyone not specified by
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