An Anti-Corruption Culture

Preventing corruption involves both employees and employers, and contributes to good governance in the long-term. It is important to militate against inappropriate behaviour (such as cronyism) as well as phenomena which are clearly criminal in order to strengthen and maintain the objectivity of all state employees and the confidence in the state as a whole.

By its very nature, corruption is very difficult to detect. The consequences are significant, both for trust and confidence in the state as a whole and for the organisations, groups and individuals involved. The rule of law is chipped away, companies and citizens are treated unfairly, and confidence in the state authorities and the political system is in danger of declining. Corruption can affect the entire state authority and its standing. This, in turn, can spill over to employees, managers and the most senior managers in the leadership of the organisation.

Many state authorities do not take sufficient responsibility to prevent corruption from occurring. One possible explanation is that Sweden is regarded as having a relatively low level of corruption. Evaluations show that the state authorities have not adequately analysed the risks of corruption.

The potential consequences of each new case of corruption that is revealed are huge. Therefore, it is important that all state authorities prioritise their preventive work. In order to be able to trust them and society at large, citizens need to feel that the state authorities are acting impartially.

Overall, Sweden has a high level of social trust and confidence in its institutions, and each year is ranked among those countries in the world whose citizens perceive the state to be the least corrupt. Despite this, Swedes think that corruption exists in local governments to a greater extent than do people in the other Nordic countries.