The world marks the United Nations’ International Anti Corruption Day on December 9, aiming "to raise public awareness of corruption and what people can do to fight it".

Beyond the accepted definitions of the term, the discussion around corruption depends a lot on the political context. Corruption in Pakistan has followed a wholly different trajectory. As economist Asad Sayeed says in his interview "the chorus against corruption can be characterised as the political expression of the class that is against representative democracy in Pakistan". Not only that, it excludes certain institutions and institutionalised corruption from its purview.

This is one lesson in history that the political parties that chant the anti-corruption chorus need to learn -- how the anti-corruption mechanisms were put in place to wipe out the political class.

One thing is certain: the nature of financial corruption is often such that it cannot be documented or proved. As such, it can only be measured through perception surveys or at least that is what Transparency International makes use of. Perception or analyses based on it can be deceptive and is likely to be misconstrued.

In the imperfect economies, corruption is sometimes seen as a grease for the development machinery. There is literature available to argue on both sides and we have tried to explore this theme in today’s Special Report.

And then the argument built at Jaipur Literary Festival in India last year by the likes of journalist Tarun Tejpal, and to some extent sociologist Ashis Nandy, that corruption is a great class equaliser. Sukumar Muralidharan has looked at the perceived explosion of India in his piece.

There are more ways of looking at the issue of corruption. This is what the Special Report is about today.