Why Are Politicians Corrupt?
By Sam Vaknin
Author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited"

Most politicians bend the laws of the land and steal money or solicit bribes
because they need the funds to support networks of patronage. Others do it
in order to reward their nearest and dearest or to maintain a lavish
lifestyle when their political lives are over.

But these mundane reasons fail to explain why some officeholders go on a
rampage and binge on endless quantities of lucre. All rationales crumble in
the face of a Mobutu Sese Seko or a Saddam Hussein or a Ferdinand Marcos who
absconded with billions of US dollars from the coffers of Zaire, Iraq, and
the Philippines, respectively.

These inconceivable dollops of hard cash and valuables often remain stashed
and untouched, moldering in bank accounts and safes in Western banks. They
serve no purpose, either political or economic. But they do fulfill a
psychological need. These hoards are not the megalomaniacal equivalents of
savings accounts. Rather they are of the nature of compulsive collections.

Erstwhile president of Sierra Leone, Momoh, amassed hundreds of video
players and other consumer goods in vast rooms in his mansion. As
electricity supply was intermittent at best, his was a curious choice. He
used to sit among these relics of his cupidity, fondling and counting them
insatiably.

While Momoh relished things with shiny buttons, people like Sese Seko,
Hussein, and Marcos drooled over money. The ever-heightening mountains of
greenbacks in their vaults soothed them, filled them with confidence,
regulated their sense of self-worth, and served as a love substitute. The
balances in their bulging bank accounts were of no practical import or
intent. They merely catered to their psychopathology.

These politicos were not only crooks but also kleptomaniacs. They could no
more stop thieving than Hitler could stop murdering. Venality was an
integral part of their psychological makeup.

Kleptomania is about acting out. It is a compensatory act. Politics is a
drab, uninspiring, unintelligent, and, often humiliating business. It is
also risky and rather arbitrary. It involves enormous stress and unceasing
conflict. Politicians with mental health disorders (for instance,
narcissists or psychopaths) react by decompensation. They rob the state and
coerce businessmen to grease their palms because it makes them feel better,
it helps them to repress their mounting fears and frustrations, and to
restore their psychodynamic equilibrium. These politicians and bureaucrats
"let off steam" by looting.

Kleptomaniacs fail to resist or control the impulse to steal, even if they
have no use for the booty. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual IV-TR (2000), the bible of psychiatry, kleptomaniacs feel "pleasure,
gratification, or relief when committing the theft." The good book proceeds
to say that " ... (T)he individual may hoard the stolen objects ...".

As most kleptomaniac politicians are also psychopaths, they rarely feel
remorse or fear the consequences of their misdeeds. But this only makes them
more culpable and dangerous.

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AUTHOR BIO (must be included with the article)



Sam Vaknin ( http://samvak.tripod.com ) is the author of Malignant Self
Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain - How the West Lost the East.
He served as a columnist for Global Politician, Central Europe Review,
PopMatters, Bellaonline, and eBookWeb, a United Press International (UPI)
Senior Business Correspondent, and the editor of mental health and Central
East Europe categories in The Open Directory and Suite101.

Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government of
Macedonia.

Visit Sam's Web site at http://samvak.tripod.com