Session 16: Corruption Even if Placed by the Government

         In this reading on bureaucracies, Heywood mentions that bureaucracies very often do serve as disadvantageous because they can lead to ‘corruption,’ if they are not scrutinized properly. I think it is important to understand that this corruption is a very big issue, since it not only implies actions such as bribery, negligence, but also serious abuse of power.

         The CIA’s interrogation techniques have only just recently been discovered to be utterly barbaric, and going against what they may have aimed to achieve. Interrogation is essentially used to gain the truth from a detainee, not condition him to a sort of learned helplessness, where he inevitably provides the answer that one wants of him. Thus this is an example of how responsibility provided by the government can result in the granting of power which is misused and results in the exploitation of people and denial of basic human rights. Hence one can see that institutions established by the government don’t guarantee fair and humane practice of rules.