Women in government, public corruption, and liberal democracy: a panel analysis

Ever since a 2001 World Bank report, many policymakers have come to accept a gender-based approach to corruption control, which posits that women in government reduce corruption because females are more ethical than males. An alternative explanation asserting the spuriousness of the gender-corruption link suggests that both gender equality and lower corruption result from a functioning liberal democracy. In this study, eight hypotheses are formulated and tested with longitudinal data for 204 countries. Findings demonstrate that neither the level of women in government nor a change in it has any impact on the prevalence and/or short-term trend of corruption. But both the strength of liberal institutions and an increase in this strength predict the prevalence and trend of corruption.     

Corruption in cultural context: Contradictions within the Korean tradition

Appreciating the many, varied and sometimes ambiguous elements within what may be called ‘Korean culture’ is crucial to a balanced assessment of its relationship to corruption. In particular, it is important to recognise its multivocality and thus its paradoxical relationship with its environment, its tendency to be shaped as well as shape modern institutions and the degree to which it is open to interpretation and contestation and thus to being compromised or altered to meet historical contingencies or political objectives. This approach provides the basis for the type of cultural analysis that can identify some of the cultural influences not only on some forms of corruption but on how a society understands the norms of good governance and what constitutes a deviation from these norms and thus what political corruption involves and why. It may also help us to understand how corruption can be disguised or justified within the Korean context.     

From corruption to extortion: Conceptualization of post-communist corruption

Moral outrage and lack of comparison distorts the understanding of the natureand politically determined functions of governmental corruption in post-communist transition. As post-communist societies move towards open market systems and corruption is no longer limited to the public sector, politics is transformed into a potent tool for illegal transactions. The political structureitself creates corrupt practices that become a structural feature of transition societies. This article offers first a critical discussion of both moral theories of corruption and the thesis that posits a link between corruption and democracy deficit in post-communist countries. Subsequently, it sketches a neo-functionalist approach that puts corruption in a specific social context.With respect to East/Central Europe, corruption is presented as a betrayal ofpublic trust that serves specific requirements of an emerging ``extortioniststate.' These requirements relate to the expansion of extortion opportunitiesand their institutionalization into a semblance of a Tule of law system.     

论政治腐败及其控制--政治文明不能忽略的论题

在政治文明的论域里,政治腐败是一个不能忽略的论题.政治腐败是公共生活发生病变的政治现象,其内涵是指公共权力的公共性能减弱或丧失,它败坏着社会关系,侵蚀着社会经济基础,尤其是腐蚀着民主制度并挑战法治,阻滞着政治文明的进程.权力腐败可能发生在立法领域、行政领域和司法领域,还可能出现在选举或其它政治方面.全面抑制政治腐败是一项系统工程,可以着眼于物质化、精神化和制度化三个视角保障必要的物质待遇,实现"以薪养廉"战略;强化和张扬政治道德,以人格抵制政治腐败;加强和改进制度建设,以制度阻止政治腐败.     

Democratic transitions and forms of corruption

Any transition to democracy has implications for corruption. This papertakes a contextual and procesual approach to the analysis ofdemocratisation and corruption. It disaggregates some variables wherebydemocratisation can provide the context for the development of corruptionand crime. This paper does not argue democratisation causescorruption and crime. Nor does it argue democratisation does not providethe social space for the reduction of corruption and crime. This paperconcentrates on the areas in which democratisation provides an oftencomplex environment for the development of corruption and crime.     

The role of the judiciary in combating corruption: aiding and inhibiting factors in Nigeria

Based on empirical facts and research in socio-economic fields, it is consensually agreed among scholars that corruption is one of the greatest hindrances to the development of any country. As part of the efforts to combat the menace of corruption, laws and institutions have been put in place. Consequently, judges, by virtue of their position in society, have an important role to play to ensure the effectiveness of those laws and institutions. However, the Nigerian judiciary has failed to live up to its responsibility in its role of combating corruption in the country and is even itself accused of corruption. This article discusses the factors that are necessary to assist in building an effective, vibrant and corruption-free judiciary. Salient factors that hinder the judiciary in the performance of its role to combat corruption are highlighted. The article finally suggests the need to reform Nigeria’s judicial sector and to set in motion all the machinery necessary for the purpose of creating a formidable judiciary in the country.     

权力腐败的法理透析

坚决惩治权力腐败和有效预防权力腐败,关系人心向背和党的生死存亡,这一重大课题始终是我们党和国家面临的重大政治任务。权力腐败是权力的权利化和权力的非责任化,因为权力时刻存在着走向腐败的可能性,权力具有私欲性,权力具有可交换性,权力具有不平等性。权力腐败的本质是剥削,其法律属性与民本、民生、和谐社会、核心价值体系完全相悖。要充分认识反腐倡廉建设的战略意义,充分认识反腐败斗争的长期性、复杂性和艰巨性。     

非公有经济的刑法平等保护——以贪污罪立法为视角

非公有经济的发展、社会结构的变迁呼唤刑法对公有经济与非公有经济平等保护。然而《刑法》中贪污罪的规定表明,非公有经济的保护处于弱势地位。我国应淡化将“贪污”当作国家工作人员“专利”的观念,改革贪污罪立法,扩大贪污罪的主体和对象范围,实现公有经济与非公有经济的刑法平等保护。     

腐败的发生病理与矫治法理——腐败征候群视域下的比较与启示

腐败征侯群理论以“参与”和“制度”为观照轴心,从国际视野比较研究四种腐败类型的发生病理和矫治法理,有助于我们客观理性地看待和治理我国的腐败问题.面对我国的腐败丛生现象,唯有准确诊断腐败的发生病理,并在法治框架下迈向深度民主化、强化制度反腐价值、讲究反腐策略选择、加强反腐法理研究,才是当下急需端正的反腐理念和有效践行的治腐策略.     

Political parties, political corruption, and the economic theory of democracy

Many prominent cases of political corruption in Western European democracies have involved political parties, yet the link between theories of political parties and theories of political corruption has not been explored. This article seeks to examine this link from the perspective of economic theories of democracy. It is argued that the economic model of party organisation is liable to encourage corrupt behaviour on the part of politicians, and that modern party organisations are coming to resemble this model, making political corruption more likely to emerge. It is suggested that this hypothesis finds some empirical support in the evidence of systematic corruption amongst Southern European socialist parties. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

How do I vote the scoundrels out? Why voters might not punish corrupt politicians at the polls

While we frequently hope electoral democracy can serve as an important constraint on corruption, there are good reasons to think that such might not be the case. This paper analyzes two closely-related questions: should we expect voters to punish corrupt politicians or parties at the polls, and should we expect such influences to check corruption generally? While there have been clear-cut cases in which such punishments have been massive and decisive, they are much the exception. Indeed, a variety of factors having to do with corruption as a concept and as a political issue, the nature of competitive electoral politics, and more recent economic and political trends reshaping important aspects of liberal democracy, all point toward a pessimistic assessment. Ideas for changing that state of affairs are few, because the difficulties reside less at the level of fixable “problems” and more with the inherent workings of liberal political and economic systems. Efforts to improve the quality of news coverage and civic education, however, and any prospects for strengthening and deepening civil society, may hold out some hope for the longer term.     

Laws without teeth: An overview of the problems associated with corruption in Ukraine

This paper presents an overview of the current problems of corruption in Ukraine. It provides an example of specific corruption practices in the country and describes the general provisions related to the fight against corruption in Ukraine. The paper presents preliminary results of a pilot study of corruption in Ukraine to examine the impact of corruption on thefinancial markets. We support the proposition of Claessens, Djankov, andKlingebiel (2000) that the development of financial institutions and the improvement of financial market services in a nation can be viewed as indicators of the effectiveness of the economic, political, and legal reforms and the dedication of the government to these reforms. The paper ends with a discussion of the role of the international community in the fight against corruption in Ukraine.     

Explaining corruption: An institutional choice approach

The end of the Cold War, thestrengthening of world democracy, and the advancement of neoliberaleconomic reforms, have exposed corruption as a major world problem andspawned a plethora of international and national anti-corruption programs. Past theorizing has increased our knowledge about corruption, however, aninterdisciplinary (political, economic, cultural) theory of the causes ofpolitical corruption has never emerged. This article develops amiddle-range interdisciplinary theory of the causes of corruption builtthrough employment of an institutional choice analytic frame. The analyticframe draws on the Institutional Analysis and Development work of ElinorOstrom, Roy Gardner, & James Walker, and the constructivist work ofNicholas Onuf. The resultant theory is advanced through a statisticalanalysis. The article concludes that ongoing international and nationalanti-corruption programs will likely fail unless they include reforms to stateinternal power structures and political cultures.     

Why voters do not throw the rascals out?— A conceptual framework for analysing electoral punishment of corruption

One of the intriguing phenomena in democracy is the fact that politicians involved in, accused of or condemned for corruption in a court of law get re-elected by their constituents. In some cases, corruption does not seem to negatively affect the development of political careers. In this introductory article, we try to develop a multidimensional framework for analysing electoral punishment of corruption. First, we will look into various studies on electoral punishment and highlight their advancements and shortcomings. Then, we will propose a more dynamic account of electoral punishment of corruption that takes into account individual as well as macro level explanations. Finally, we will disaggregate these two analytical dimensions into various explanatory factors.     

清除腐败赖品德———兼论法律作用的有限性

腐败有掌权者腐败和机构腐败之分。掌权者腐败具有“行为的个别性”和“明显的不合理性”的特点。机构腐败也有两个显著特点：（1）它是机关行为或一定权力系统的行为,没有具体的责任人;（2）它的不合理性不十分明显,人们对它常常不能形成稳定一致的是非评价。由于腐败与执法的同源性、权力的不受惩罚性、反腐败的法令只能由不腐败的权力创制等原因,对腐败无法像对其他犯罪那样通过严格执法来实现治理目标。在民主政治下,根治腐败的根本出路是贯彻品德原则,建立对官员的品德评价系统。品德评价系统是依据品德标准对公职人员实施辞退、罢免、撤换的政治评价系统。这个系统由执法权自洁系统、监督系统和以公众为力量源泉的基础系统等构成。     

公共行政组织的法律规制

公共行政组织在当今中国的兴起与发展已成为必然趋势,但同时也涌现出众多不可忽视的问题。对公共行政组织加以有效的法律规制,不仅是确保行政分权、实现行政民主化的必要途径,也是控制国家行政权力、保护相对人合法权益和实现法治的必然要求。具体思路是:借鉴域外经验,增强“准行政组织”性事业单位的独立性和社会自治组织的“自治”程度,以建立独立自治的公共行政组织;在规制的路径选择上,实行加强规制与放松规制并举,并从加强立法、拓宽行政法的适用范围、扩展司法审查范围以及扩大公众参与等方面实现对公共行政组织规制的相关制度构建。     

Local Processes of National Corruption: Elite Linkages and Their Effects on Poor People in India

This paper provides a bottom–up view of national corruption in India and presents a framework of corruption involving three actors: bureaucrat, politician and legitimate claimant. The paper then focuses on the public service provision of social security in an Indian village and the role of elites in perpetuating the corrupt practices to access this public provision. This study is based on an extensive fieldwork and uses network data. First, I show that the political elite bridges the ‘structural hole’ between the institutions of state and society, have the advantage of information, referrals and are the main beneficiary of local corrupt practices. Second, factional politics is carried out through the use of corruption and it results in exclusion of the poor persons from the welfare rights to which they are entitled. The paper also explores how the local processes of corruption interact with state-level processes and shows how protest against corruption is silenced.     

Democracy and political corruption: A cross-national comparison

Past research on democracy and politicalcorruption produced mixed results becauseof differences in sampling and analyticalmethods. Moreover, an important shortcominghas been researchers' focus on detectinglinear effects alone. In the current study,I statistically controlled for potentiallyconfounding economic factors and usedhierarchical polynomial regression toevaluate the form of thedemocracy-corruption relationship. Resultsshowed that a cubic function best fittedthe data. Despite eruptions of corruptionamong intermediate democracies, theconsolidation of advanced democraticinstitutions eventually reduced corruption.Ultimately, the initial politicalconditions and the final democraticachievements determined the magnitude ofpolitical corruption in a country.     

Why is corruption in Poland ``a serious cause for concern'?

Public perceptions of corruption are significant for their political consequences. But they are conceptually and empirically distinct from corruption. First, because perceptions of corruption run far ahead of experience. Second, because different factors influence the one more than the other – indeed poverty and low education increase perceptions of corruption while decreasing participation in it. Third, because the political consequences of corruption and corruption-perceptions differ not only in degree but in their targets – perceptions and experiences of corruption erode trust in different politicians and institutions.External moralising from institutions such as the EU may reduce corruption in Accession States while simultaneously increasing perceptions of it. And within these states, that moralising `culture which can resist corruption' which the EU demands, itself tends, perversely, to increase (not decrease) perceptions, suspicions, and allegations of corruption.     

立法民主:概念与根据

立法民主的核心含义是指在立法决策、立法活动中,依据民主原则,贯彻民主原则,法文件的内容则不能作为立法民主的内涵要素.现代立法的要求之一是贯彻立法民主原则,其根据在于,现代法乃是人们享受良好人世生活的一种制度安排,从理性上说,公民有保留立法权力的要求;现代国家社会成员地位的平等,要求立法活动遵行民主原则.