Political Corruption and Its Link with Foreign Policy in South Asia

Abstract

Political corruption is a highly prevalent issue to countries across the globe. At its core, corruption undermines honest governance. Previous literature has proven that corruption has several negative impacts on nations domestically, contributing to inefficiency in terms of social, economic, and political development. The apparent complications caused by the presence of corruption have prompted a discussion on whether or not corruption can be linked with ramifications on international affairs. Although some literature has provided some speculatory insight into the possible global scope of political corruption, there is a lack of analysis on the relationship between corruption and the foreign policy of a nation. In particular, South Asia is a region that commands interest when analyzing corruption, as this is a region with tremendous contemporary geopolitical importance that is plagued with corruption in its governance. This study aims to investigate the relationships between political corruption and several dimensions of foreign policy within 6 South Asian nations: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. A quantitative multivariate regression methodology was employed to conduct this analysis. Political corruption level for each South Asian nation was measured using the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), and the multifaceted phenomenon of foreign policy was broken down into variables within the economic, diplomatic, and militaristic dimensions. Results indicate that higher political corruption levels in South Asian countries are negatively linked with economic relationships and diplomatic engagement, but have minimal influence on military affairs. This study sheds light on the importance of governments addressing political corruption domestically in order to mitigate the potential detrimental impacts of corruption on foreign policy.