Power + Inferiority complex = moral corruption

People in power should have magnanimous and judicious attitude; one can get plenty of examples of such situation when a person of higher intellect occupies position of power. However there are many instances in Indian scenario, where power of any kind leads to moral and ethical corruption.

“Misuse of power for private benefit or advantage. This power may, but need not reside in the public domain. Besides money, the benefit can take the form of promotion, special treatment, commendation, or the favours of women or men... 

In ordinary parlance corruption simply means asking, giving or taking a fee, gift or favours as a condition for performance of one’s legal or assigned responsibility” 
                                                               Maurice Coker

General opinion is that alma matter has an impact on corrupt practices, people educated in reputed institutions are less corrupt. Here is a though provoking paragraph from Indian Institute of Development Management on Affect of alma matter on corruption, 

In Indian senario many bureaucrats  who graduated from IIT & IIM was corrupt to the lowest level. The essence is, if society wants to reduce corruption, it should respect the persons who are suffering from inferiority complex to boost their moral for keeping away from corrupt practices.  

One can wonder why is so? Why one has to go down the path of misuse and abuse of power leading to corruption when one can easily glorify himself and presume leadership position.

A person’s use of or more precisely abuse of power usually reveals the limitations of that person. Generally limitations reflect the intellectual and moral boundaries of the person. Narrow and prejudiced boundaries often lead to skewed ability to handle power for the common good.

For the person who has power, when dealing with any sector of society of which he disapproves (for example, class of higher intellectuals with limited or no power), he will abuse power during interaction with these sectors. Authoritarian morality produces abuse in the sectors of society, which are considered to be high in moral or ethical or intellectual ability with less power to simply prove his superiority by any means, often by means of illegality.

Why does this abuse occur?

Abuse occurs because the person’s psychological problems undermine his moral principles and corrupt his exercise of power. Power is neutral but the person is not. So power magnifies his intellectually challenged persona. Many intellectually challenged people are also around and can cause unpleasant relationship. However Unpleasant relationships that are manageable when he has no power become unmanageable when eventually he does have power.

The major psychological problem of man in power is that, he has a weak self-image. So power becomes the means to achieve self-validation. The man in power uses his power to augment his weak self-image. Instead of basing power on proven abilities, the person bases power on his vanity. The possession of power has the effect of magnifying the intensity of his vanity. Thus he cannot use power wisely in situations that he finds unpleasant. Which eventually leads to moral corruption.