In poor countries, corruption is not just a culture but an ecosystem. The law of supply and demand also applies. In poor countries (low state capacity), officials/elites demand rents; corporations and intermediaries from developed countries provide offers in the form of bribes, offshore schemes, and contract engineering. Corruption is a collective action problem; all actors consider bribery normal, so the cost of honesty is higher than the cost of going along with the flow. This economic structure creates fertile ground for corruption and patronage politics.

Therefore, the culture of corruption in poor countries does not exist in isolation; it is fostered by a global ecosystem that provides bribes, shady financial schemes, and regulatory protection. Breaking the cycle of poverty caused by corruption requires a two-pronged approach: strengthening domestic capacity and transparency while shutting off the tap of bribes through cross-border enforcement, dismantling financial secrecy, and fair trade/tax governance. Without this reform structure, corruption will remain a cost of doing business—and poverty will remain institutionalized.

We understand that in the world of geopolitics, geostrategy, and geoeconomics, there is a saying: there are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests. Developed countries will do everything in their power to avoid losing their wealth to exploitation. While they promote democracy, they also promote propaganda and intervene in poor countries to ensure that the ruling regimes are their puppets. For example, countries on the African continent, which are actually wealthy, remain impoverished through French neocolonialism.