IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/pubcho/v184y2020i3d10.1007_s11127-020-00832-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Legal corruption?

Author

Listed:
  • Oguzhan Dincer

    (Professor of Economics, Illinois State University)

  • Michael Johnston

    (Charles A. Dana Professor of Political Science Emeritus, Colgate University)

Abstract

“Legal corruption” may strike many scholars as a contradiction in terms, but in fact the concept can be essential if we are to understand the sources and consequences of corruption issues in politics. The analytical definition of corruption, as such, is not settled. Legal standards likely are preferred to those based on social values, public opinion, or notions of the public interest. But those conceptions of corruption omit many kinds of activities that, while legal (or not clearly illegal), capitalize on abuses of public trust and official powers to produce outcomes regarded widely as unjust. Those sorts of activities help explain the recent rise of “populism” and its links to diffuse, but intense and broadly shared, senses of unfairness and elite excess. “Legal corruption” as a category has definitional problems of its own, but recent data show that it is worth close study and refinement because it offers critical insights into political issues that—while they may not fit traditional conceptions of corruption—nonetheless increasingly are important aspects of contemporary politics.

Suggested Citation

  • Oguzhan Dincer & Michael Johnston, 2020. "Legal corruption?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 184(3), pages 219-233, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:184:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s11127-020-00832-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11127-020-00832-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11127-020-00832-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11127-020-00832-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alessandra Foresta, 2020. "The rise of populist parties in the aftermath of a massive corruption scandal," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 184(3), pages 289-306, September.
    2. Massimo Finocchiaro Castro & Calogero Guccio, 2020. "Birds of a feather flock together: trust in government, political selection and electoral punishment," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 184(3), pages 263-287, September.
    3. Francis Fukuyama, 2013. "What Is Governance?," Working Papers 314, Center for Global Development.
    4. Mark E. Warren, 2004. "What Does Corruption Mean in a Democracy?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(2), pages 328-343, April.
    5. Oguzhan Dincer & Michael Johnston, 2017. "Political Culture and Corruption Issues in State Politics: A New Measure of Corruption Issues and a Test of Relationships to Political Culture," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 47(1), pages 131-148.
    6. Dobel, J. Patrick, 1978. "The Corruption of a State," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 72(3), pages 958-973, September.
    7. Nye, J. S., 1967. "Corruption and Political Development: A Cost-Benefit Analysis," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 61(2), pages 417-427, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gustavo Gouvêa Maciel & Luís de Sousa, 2018. "Legal Corruption and Dissatisfaction with Democracy in the European Union," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 140(2), pages 653-674, November.
    2. George Economakis & Yorgos Rizopoulos & Dimitrios Sergakis, 2010. "Patterns of Corruption," Post-Print halshs-01968240, HAL.
    3. Mohammad Reza Farzanegan & Reza Zamani, 2024. "The Effect of Corruption on Internal Conflict in Iran Using Newspaper Coverage," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(1), pages 24-43, January.
    4. Ilufoye Sarafa Ogundiya, 2011. "Beyond the “Geography of Terrorism and Terror of Geography†Thesis," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 27(1), pages 57-91, March.
    5. Ugochukwu Basil, 2011. "The Pathology of Judicialization: Politics, Corruption and the Courts in Nigeria," The Law and Development Review, De Gruyter, vol. 4(3), pages 59-87, September.
    6. Dincer, Oguzhan & Gillanders, Robert, 2021. "Shelter in place? Depends on the place: Corruption and social distancing in American states," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    7. Andris Zimelis, 2020. "Corruption research: A need for an integrated approach," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 23(3), pages 288-306, September.
    8. Alejandro Rodriguez, 2019. "Defining Governance in Latin America," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 5-19, March.
    9. Busby, Joshua & Smith, Todd G. & Krishnan, Nisha & Wight, Charles & Vallejo-Gutierrez, Santiago, 2018. "In harm's way: Climate security vulnerability in Asia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 88-118.
    10. Maria Kravtsova & Aleksey Oshchepkov, 2019. "Market And Network Corruption," HSE Working papers WP BRP 209/EC/2019, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    11. Allred, Shorna & Stedman, Richard & Heady, Laura & Strong, Karen, 2021. "Incorporating biodiversity in municipal land-use planning: An assessment of technical assistance, policy capacity, and conservation outcomes in New York’s Hudson Valley," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    12. Tobin Im & Kris Hartley, 2019. "Aligning Needs and Capacities to Boost Government Competitiveness," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 119-137, March.
    13. Miquel Salvador & David Sancho, 2021. "The Role of Local Government in the Drive for Sustainable Development Public Policies. An Analytical Framework Based on Institutional Capacities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-17, May.
    14. Mutascu, Mihai, 2009. "The effect of the government intervention in economy on corruption," MPRA Paper 16175, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Osipian, Ararat, 2007. "Misdeeds in the US higher education: Illegality versus corruption," MPRA Paper 8471, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Ilia Murtazashvili & Jennifer Murtazashvili, 2015. "Anarchy, self-governance, and legal titling," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 287-305, March.
    17. Sebastian Galiani & Cheryl Long & Camila Navajas Ahumada & Gustavo Torrens, 2019. "Horizontal and Vertical Conflict: Experimental Evidence," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(2), pages 239-269, May.
    18. Auer Daniel & Tjaden Jasper & Römer Friederike, 2020. "Corruption and the Desire to Leave Quasi-Experimental Evidence on Corruption as a Driver of Emigration Intentions," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-31, January.
    19. Asongu, Simplice A. & Nwachukwu, Jacinta C., 2016. "The role of governance in mobile phones for inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 55, pages 1-13.
    20. Deepta Chopra, 2015. "Political commitment in India’s social policy implementation: Shaping the performance of MGNREGA," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-050-15, GDI, The University of Manchester.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Illegal corruption; Legal corruption; American states;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
    • H1 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:184:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s11127-020-00832-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.