International Journal on Criminology

The first criticism relates to the natural incompatibility of the ethical order and the economic order . Some economists , such as Milton Friedman ¹ and John Kenneth Galbraith , stress that the sole purpose of the firm is profit , whereas regulation and its sanction are the mission of the state . Others go further in their criticism , stating that these mechanisms “ instrumentalize ethics to bypass state control and the moral standards established by civil society ² .”

The analysis that follows seeks to show the usefulness , in addition to other mechanisms , of these soft law instruments , whether they are present in the private sector , where potential corrupters may come from or they are set up in the public sector , where corruption may also be found .

1 Codes of Ethics and Instruments to Prevent Conflicts of Interest : a Response to the Social Demand for Integrity

and integrity / probity . These two ramparts are targets , to be destroyed from the point of view of corruption and to be reinforced from the point of view of ethical procedures .

1.1 Corruption : An Attack on the Integrity and Independence of Public Decision-makers

Corruption , broadly defined as the giving of an unjustified advantage to another entity in return for a consideration , can involve both businesses and public authorities . For example , a purchasing manager of a company could broadly be considered to be corrupt if they choose a construction contractor to build the shed their company needs , not because the contractor offers the best value for money , but because they install a free swimming pool in their home . If we restrict the scope of corruption , in the sense of article 433-1 of the penal code , to “ persons holding public authority ,” it remains a multifaceted crime , as summarized in Table 1 below .

Table 1 : The constituent elements of the different types of corruption

1 Friedman , Milton , Capitalisme et liberté , 1962 , Paris , Robert Laffont , 1971 , p . 133 . 2 Marzano , Michela , L ’ éthique appliquée , 2010 , PUF , p . 121 .

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