Background:
Political corruption is the use of governmental powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties.

Starting in Prisoner of Azkaban, we start to see the Ministry really become corrupt. Beginning with Fudge letting Harry off for 'blowing up his aunt', but nothing really comes of the corruption in that book. The corruption continues as the series goes on, escalating in Order of the Phoenix, with Fudge becoming the "know all" and anyone who disagrees with him, is basically called "insane".

Fudge used his position in power to make Dumbledore look like the "bad guy", who was just out for his job. In reality, Dumbledore never wanted to be Minister. By making Dumbledore look bad, it showed Fudge in a better light.

The Discussion:
With all the political corruption that occurred in the books, was there anyway to prevent it from escalating to its max? How could it be prevented in the future / how could the conflict be transformed into something workable?

Well, I think in any power-hungry job, whether or not it's a regular 9-5 to running a country, the only way to take it down is from the inside. I mean, if a couple of characters had picked up on it in the book, just regular wizards, it would've been overlooked. The only way to really make a difference is to have some power of your own - and if you don't have any, create it.

I think, as a whole, there's probably nothing that could've been done in the books unless they all banded together. The Ministry was looking out for each ohter when Fudge got so crazy and controlling because they were looking out for themselves. They could've lost their jobs, had their families put at risk, etc. None of them would help the regular man take Fudge down when they have so much to lose.

As for it being prevented in the future... I sadly think the only way to prevent this from happening is to try to trust the people you elect into office and keep them in check. =/

It's hard to imagine preventing it in the books, because from the outside looking in, the Ministry needed to be corrupt for certain things, plot-wise, to happen. In the books, the Minister/Ministry is often seen as "the power(s) that be." In OotP, the Minister/Ministry's failure to support Harry in his time of need just added so much to the whole background of his story. A fifteen-year-old scholboy stood his ground, not only against the most evil wizard of all time, but also against the entire Ministry and the powerful man behind it.

During Fudge's reign of terror, I really don't think anything could have been done to bring him down. Doing so would have required a lot more time/effort than both Harry and Dumbledore had. There were a number of others who would have fought to bring down the corruption (i.e. Arthur and several others), but I think it would have required many more people stepping forward than just the few that I would imagine willing to doing so.

There would have obviously been a few ways that it could have not reached it's max but there woudl be a few ways that it wouldnt have started in the first place.

Firstly.
The main reason as lupin says is that his mind had been changed by fear. Fear does things to people and in this case it made fudge go 'Insane' if you take away the fear then the insanity would go away with it so if Voldemort never existed the Ministry wouldnt be under attack, Harry Potter wouldnt be in the ministry everytime something bad happens which would mean fudge would have less stress and less corruption.

Secondly.
If Dumbledore had taken the job as minister for magic in the first place then there wouldnt be any corruption as he is a good man.

Even though there was no chance that they could or would happen in the books are at 0% it would probably be the only way that it would have not reached as bad as it did but also Fudge was hanged by the ammount of power he had which shouldnt be given to one man.

Unfortunately, you have to remember the reason why Dumbledore didn't take the job. He was afraid of becoming power-hungry, because look at what happened to him when he was friends with Grindelwald. I think, even if Dumbledore were put into office, he might have his things here and there where he just wants to advance himself a little farther. It's human nature to want to be on top.

So what can you do to avoid this, really? Not much. Maybe put in a checks and balances system for the people in charge instead of the branches? But everyone's a little corrupt...

That is completely true. There are lots of politicans who started out as someone we thought we could trust and then become greedy power hungry bosses and to be honest, there is no way to prevent it at all. It ultimately comes down to the individual and the choices they make--are they willing to risk everything at the chance to make themselves to gain something of importance to them?

Everyone, of course, has valid points. Corruption itself can stem from several different areas. It can start from the very top of the pyramid, with the most powerful, and it can begin at the lowest levels. This was a time in which there was general unrest in the Wizarding world; there were unexplained attacks and disappearances. For those who were old enough, it strongly resembled the days when Voldermort was most powerful.

Fudge felt the brunt of this fear and as he was the one who was completely in command, he collapsed under his own fear. Umbridge also showed signs of fear and mental instability at Hogwarts, especially when she stooped so low as to plan to perform an unforgiveable on Harry. I think a lot of the crumbling of the Ministry was down to the way the Ministry is ordered. With Fudge alone at the top, he had the power to do as he pleased with almost no obstruction (except Dumbledore).

I believe that in those circumstances, the Ministry's corruption would have been impossible to stop or even restrict. However, I think that in the future, it may be possible to keep pressure down to a minimum. Similar to a Board of Directors in a company, if the Ministry were to form a Committee of Ministers, in a sense, with a commander, then decisions would be made more rationally, and with all the factors considered.

Although there are department heads at the MoM, Fudge was the sole decision-maker, and his power hungry ego was in control of the wizarding world. Fudge chose to cover up the truth by misguiding the wizarding population. There were those in the Ministry that knew what he was doing was wrong, but fear probably stopped them from doing what was right.


I agree, if the Ministry was run by than more than one person, then arguments and discussions would have ensured that Harry’s story was at least checked on; better safe than sorry; at least one person would have wanted to make sure he wasn’t lying. If a board ran the Ministry, it would have ensured that one man’s greed for power didn’t doom them all. It would mean better decision-making, equality, control over those with power, and most of all fairness to the wizarding population. I think the heads of departments should have been given more responsibility. The Auror Department should have been able to confirm that the Dark Lord was once again active instead of searching for Sirius Black. And, I am sure if the head had more control, he could have done that.


A committee of ministers is better in making decisions than one man alone. That would have put the wizarding world in a better position. And it would have stopped the Dark Lord from gaining power as quickly as he did. The Ministry could have prevented a lot from happening, thus they wouldn't have to waste time in cover-ups and losing the trust of the wizarding world, if only they had listened to Albus Dumbledore.

This is all true, but we've got to see it from both perspectives. Plot-wise, it tied everything in, without the Ministry's corrupness and power-hungry ways. But in this, it was basically Fugde scared about Albus and worried about keeping the smiles on the magical population who let it all spiral out of control. Had the ministry spent it's time trying to find the dark lord and the escapees from Azkaban the 3rd book would've changed the entire series.

If as Ginevra says, the ministry had listened to Dumbledore, there would've been no need for Umbridge and the Ministry intervention into the school, the entire series would've changed. But if they had listened to Dumbledore, we have no idea how that would've turned out, most likely Fudge would've lost his job a lot earlier and again the Wizarding World would be in turmoil from then.

Power corrupts....Absolute power corrupts absolutely.....

Dumbledore was wise enough to know this....

First of all Dumbledore had problems wit extreme power in his younger years and was sure the MOM job would go straight to his head so I am not so sure Dumbledore would have been the best man for the job. However with the MOMs that have been chosen throughout the series I have no doubt there must be some sort of corruption in the voting process as there seemed to be in the US presidential elections in 2000.
Passing that for many years before crackdowns just as here for many decades people could keep their dirty laundry secret but as time goes on we get better at securing that if reason exists (The Malfoys DAs) a searc will proceed. As for UNDERAGE MAGIC if unintentional it may be common practice to give the young person a warning. In OOTP Harry did produce a potronus charm in the presence of a muggle and te trial was legal for no one knew why he had produced the charm and with Mrs Figgs recolection he was cleared, but te full criminal trial was uncalled for. As for the Ministry insisting Voldemort was not back seems similar to the war in Iraq to find weapons, there were none, all Bush wanted to do was take over te oil fields whic were in turn burned down ad us left with just the casualties. How is this similar, well te Ministry was lying when they said Voldemort did not return after there was full proof he did and all this to retain a high and mighty position and just like Bus they fell flat on their face.

I don't think it's a question of preventing political corruption. I think Rowling wanted to portray it because it is a prevalent part of our lives today. She is very good about using everyday lives and past history to illustrate the points she drives home in the HP novels.

As for the political corruption in the books, it can't be avoided. Even if one or two people knew exactly what Fudge was doing, and managed to overthrow him, "Corrupt Power Corrupts Absolutely." It is a fact that any time you have people in charge of a government or in a position of power, they use that power to their advantage, even if they don't mean to--and they start out intending to use that power justly. People are always corrupt. It is just the way we are.

Think about Communism. In theory, it is a great idea. It doesn't work at all because people are involved. Any time you get people involved, the idea goes awry.

Quote:

Originally Posted by oribia_blue

Think about Communism. In theory, it is a great idea. It doesn't work at all because people are involved. Any time you get people involved, the idea goes awry.

(has to think about magical HP Communism): Imagine the back to school shopping at Diagon Alley:
-Shopkeeper: Oh, I'm terribly sorry, we do not have any wands at the moment. But I can offer you a nice broom instead...
-Kid: Uhm...

Yes there definently was. They took everything to a big max. Underage magic should only be taken to trouble, if it was used on a muggle, or had intentional uses of harm. Underage magic, simply casting a patronus charm got someone in trouble. They could have been sending a message to a friend, does that mean that their wand gets snapped ?no it shouldn't. They could have fired Fudge the minute he tried to get Harry in trouble. He is the boy who lived for merlin's sake, Harry pretty much runs the wizarding world, and then someone has the nerve too get him into trouble.Fudge was weak, and a liar. The Minister of Magic should be a powerful person, who doesn't resign once he knows he's wrong, Fudge freakin ruined the ministry. Scrimgeor wasn't a good fix either, he once again tried to get something off of a Harry, I think if they had someone like Minerva McGonnagel as the minister of magic we would have been far better off, so for the future, let's realize that hey maybe a female liek McGonnagel could do it, or maybe even, a male like remus or dumbledore(even though they are dead)they would be good.Yes dumbledore didn't want to do it, but someone who dumbledore trusts would be good too. The biggest to me, corruption was with Umbridge and the muggleborns in the seventh book. She needs too be fired, and anyone like her. Plus I think AHermione should be hired to work for Magical Creature Law Enforcment or something, houselves deserve there chances. Get Umbridge OUT. You could even have the situation with Azskaban be fixed. Instead of having Dementors there. Have aurors there by the cells. Have them with their magical powers be there with a wand, knowing non-verbal spells would do the trick too. Dementors have been snuck past once it could happen again. Our security needs to be fixed. I could ramble on for hours, but I'll stop now, think i'm wrong send me a message.

But at the end of GOF, Fudge goes totally crazy. He doesn't want Voldemort to be back, because he knows only too well, that he can't handle it. So he prefers to make Harry and Dumbledore look like stupid liars, who only want to cause trouble, instead of seeing the truth. And after the awful stories, that Rita Skeeter had written that year, it wasn't even so hard to make people believe, that Harry was unbalanced and everything.

While I feel Fudge was the head of the corruption involved in the MOM, I'd like to point out that there is not much information on how the wizarding government works. We know that there is the Wizengamot, but we don't know how laws and rules are created. There could be fairly democratic process and it is clear Fudge is not complete control or he would not behave in such a paranoid manner. I believe that Ministry's opposition to Dumbledore and Harry was caused more from Fudge's ability to use propaganda effectively. It would have been hard to oppose Dumbledore without a strong following, which he had in many ministry workers and wizards throughout Britain.

Also you asked what could be done to stop. Besides gaining an extremely large opposition to the ministry, which would have been nearly impossible, there is also the use of assassination. I understand it does seem to be an immature response, but it seems to be the only plausible action that could have a quick effect on the ministry's actions.

I think that anybody who holds that much political power in their hands has the potential to become a little power-hungry. Fudge is the perfect example: he is so focused on keeping his role as Minister of Magic that he views anybody he knows to be more powerful or knowledgeable than himself (i.e. Dumbledore) as a threat. Now, we know that Dumbledore did not take the job, nor did he even particularly want it. However, Dumbledore also knew that he would have become crazed with power had he taken the job. He knew the potential for danger that comes with the position, and he was wise enough to acknowledge it in himself.

Now, as for preventing or circumventing the political corruption that occured in the books, I don't see how you could have, short of dumping Fudge from his position, which is what eventually occured in the sixth installment, when the world realized that Dumbledore was right, and that Fudge was deliberately trying to discredit Harry and Company. However, we also see with Scrimgeour that he is also becoming somewhat corrupt, what with trying to gain Harry's trust so as to use him to make the Ministry seem a united front. Harry wisely realizes what Scrimgeour is up to, and tells him in no uncertain terms that he will not cooperate with a corrupt ministry.

In short, as long as you have human beings in power, there will always be corruption.

I just think that dumbledore was better off as the headmaster of hogwarts. Anyway it was jk's decision, if she wanted him to be anything else, then she would have put him as something else wouldnt she.

Yes I agree. I mean she made dumbledore a homosexual didnt she? Even though nobody would guess it at first sight.

I don't totally understand by how Harry blowing up his aunt meant his use of underage magic. Wouldn't they find that he hadn't used his wand and had no control?

He didn't get into trouble for that one either, even though it was suspected, that it was due to people still believing, that Sirius was out to kill him, so he would be safer at Hogwarts.