Freedom

Freedom of citizens of a country is a basic necessity, which must be looked into by leaders of the nation. Freedom ranges from a total freedom to no freedom at all, depending on a country. It is with this nature that corruption levels may be heightened or reduced, depending on the authority of leaders and freedom of people. People of a country as well as its leaders have the power to determine the level of freedom and how to exercise it. Therefore, it is correct to say that freedom of a nation makes a substantial contribution to corruption levels in a nation.

State Leaders and Corruption

According to Machiavelli, freedom and corruption tag along in the sense that a country with leaders under the republican governance may exhibit any form of corruption. In the cases that a leader of a country is removed from the power, the nation becomes a free state, and with this freedom, citizens find it hard to conduct themselves in a corrupt manner. In addition, those, who were in authority, find it extremely difficult to access resources of the public for their selfish gains after their authority was taken away. Therefore, a free state is safer than that with a head of state; hence, corruption levels are rather low.

Within a free state, no one works hard to please or gain the recognition; consequently, people focus on themselves rather than on the recognition and acquiring awards. It is the nature of a man to avoid shorter routes, namely they prefer to be riddled with corruption, when no one is watching. People live free and work for their necessary needs and pleasures. Without any head of state, there is no necessity to be corrupt as no one cares or is watching for anyone to do the right according to expectations of a society. In a country with the republican governance, people are not free, while leaders of the government make efforts to please the head of state and their fellow leaders. Through this pressure, corruption may prevail as the same leaders have the resource to reach out to anything within their power.

On the other hand, a state with a leader without little or no freedom offers room for corruption, where leaders become enemies with citizens. The citizens’ need for freedom evokes the enmity between both leaders and people. It is within the power of the head of state to ensure the enmity is appeased by looking into the desires of people. Freedom of people can be attained through diverse methods; meanwhile, a number of the public members in the governance of a country may appear as representatives of freedom to some citizens; hence, the hate for leaders can reduce, and this way the head of state reduces the number of enemies.

The consequent event of a state, which is not free, is cry for freedom and vengeance to leaders, who have denied the public their freedom. In the event that freedom is achieved, those, who were in power, become the enemies of the public as they become less of the merits they were accustomed to in leadership. The head of state can have enemies within the government after working together with the public for their own good. Corruption lacks room, when the head of state is for people and against the selfish gains of those in power with him; hence, the president’s potential enemies increase, among them being those under his leadership.

In terms of another aspect, a nation that has acquired freedom, but was formerly corrupt, faces challenges in maintaining the freedom. Corruption takes tall in a country that is free as long as people in it are corrupt and have their lives led by corruption. In the event, where the successive leaders of a free state are corrupt, there is no way possible that the level of corruption will not spread. With leaders, who are corrupt, citizens see no harm in avoiding corruption. If both leaders and citizens are corrupt a state may live in a free, but corrupt nation with no significant reforms.

Good Virtues of People

However, the nature of human beings is to abide by the virtues, which they possess. These virtues that may be guided by their religious beliefs as well as their personal outlook on matters may help in reducing corruption in a free state. Having a leader, who is corrupt, does not necessarily mean that the nation will be corrupt. With good virtues amongst people of respect, obedience and honesty, a city can remain clean off corruption. It is with the good virtues of people that they are convened to do what is right by their heart and beliefs. Good morals are not hard to find, but they are easy to be ruined through the influence, particularly by leaders.

Additionally, with the freedom of a corrupt nation, eliminating leaders can be a step to end corruption. A group of people can decide to implement a strategy that can help in eliminating all of the leaders, who are corrupt, at once. Eliminating all the corrupt leaders through a court of law or removal of positions of influence can alter the city into a modest non corrupt country. Nonetheless, some nations can be ruined beyond control, where their freedom elevates corruption levels to a point, where good virtues are rare gems. Even with a good leader, a completely ruined city will be hard to maintain, especially with the loss of power of the moral leaders, the corruption rate can go back to impact the city to a considerable degree. A city that cannot be mended by two or three consecutive good leaders must be a spoilt city and cannot be maintained whatsoever. It is only the good virtues that convene people to change their country from an individual aspect.

Another issue arises, where it is questionable as to whether a free state can be maintained in a corrupt city. This is hard to solve as most countries, which are corrupt, are not easily freed from their corrupt nature and maintained well. The freedom of people is maintained in accordance with the levels of corruption in that particular city. The freedom of people is difficult to maintain, thus, there has to be a reinforcement of laws and orders, which will ensure that even the corrupt nation lowers its degree of evil within its freedom.

However, laws and orders are not sufficient to conquer corruption and evil in a country; hence, only the virtues of people can save them and maintain a nation’s freedom. Virtuous people can aggressively ask for new laws and renewed orders as per the level of evil in the nation. Despite the presence of a minority of virtuous people, it is impossible for the laws to work if the law makers are as well corrupt as the rest of the city. It is natural that those in power will favor those among them, who are of the same beliefs, which might not be among virtuous people. A country with wealthy powerful men, who are corrupt, might not have any form of good in it if laws and orders do not change to suit the evils of the state.

On the other hand, freedom from a corrupt nation is hard to come by due to leaders, who are in place. If leaders have attained their power through corrupt methods, it is difficult to argue that they will lead the nation, while promoting a corruption free state. They will instill more corruption in the country. However, in cases, where leaders are of good virtues, but the nation is ruined by corruption, laws and orders may change, but cannot be enough to maintain the freedom of the state. Moreover, effective leaders cannot use crude methods like killing and imprisoning those, who go against their orders, as their beliefs and virtues may not convene them to act so. It is for this cause that freedom of a state is hard to maintain with corruption taking lead.

Leaders of a nation are crucial in terms of maintaining freedom of a country. If a weak leader succeeds a strong leader, he acquires a fortune of greatness from his predecessor. Fortune in power comes in, when a weak leader does not have to maintain an already maintained freedom of a city. Greatness is a fortune from great leaders, who settle and maintain freedom of a nation as well as end corruption. If a leader was in a peaceful state, the next leader will have no problems as the state will remain peaceful. On the other hand, two weak leaders cannot succeed each other as they will cause a downfall of the freedom of a city. Weak leaders cannot leave a fortune of greatness in their power; hence, no maintenance will be achieved.

In conclusion, two great leaders, who are in power consecutively, will bring a nation to greatness as the successor will want to do greater things than the other strong leader did. Any nation with two great leaders, who succeed in power, is predominantly strong and can maintain its freedom to heights, which are beyond the expectations of many. As a rule, the evil and corruption of a state depend on both freedom, which citizens have, and the power of leaders. The degree of corruption will also vary with virtues and religious beliefs of people and leaders. In this light, freedom of a country contributes to corruption levels in a nation.