Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T20:38:02.419Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Political Corruption in the United States: A Design Draft

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 December 2013

Amitai Etzioni
Amitai Etzioni*
Affiliation:
George Washington University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

To establish the scope and level of corruption in the contemporary United States, a collaborative project of political scientists is needed. Such a study should start with explicating the definition of corruption various scholars use. Three are noted here: using public goods for personal gains, deflecting public goods to private groups, and making such moves when these are legal although they are still illicit. To assess corruption on these levels, we must consider that various forms that “capture” takes beyond the corruption of the laws themselves. A study of the major differences in the level of corruption among the three branches of government may improve our understanding of the prevalence and causes of corruption. A study of “rent” may help predict that future course of corruption. Other topics whose study warrants collaborative investigation are listed.

Type
Features
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 47 , Issue 1 , January 2014 , pp. 141 - 144
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anechiarico, Frank, and Jacobs, James B.. 1996. The Pursuit of Absolute Integrity: How Corruption Control Makes Government Ineffective. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Ansolabehere, Stephen, and Snyder, James M. Jr. 1999. “Money and Institutional Power.” Texas Law Review 77 (June): 1673–704.Google Scholar
Ansolabehere, Stephen, de Figueiredo, John M., and Snyder, James M. Jr. 2002. “Why Is There So Little Money in U.S. Politics?” NBER Working Paper No. 9409 (December). CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cahlink, George. 2004. “Ex-Pentagon Procurement Executive Gets Jail Time.” Government Executive, October 1. http://www.govexec.com/defense/2004/10/ex-pentagon-procurement-executive-gets-jail-time/17737/.Google Scholar
The Economist. 2003. “Setting the Rules.” January 24. Google Scholar
Eggen, David, and Farnam, T. W.. 2012. “Spending by Independent Groups Had Little Election Impact, Analysis Finds.” Washington Post, November 7. http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-11-07/politics/35505345_1_presidential-race-attack-ads-wealthy-political-groups.Google Scholar
Elster, Jon. 1989. The Cement of Society: A Survey of Social Order. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farnam, T. W. 2013. “Congressional Staffers Often Travel on Tabs of Foreign Governments.” Washington Post, February 17. Google Scholar
Friedrich, Carl J. 1966. “Political Pathology.” Political Quarterly 37 (January): 70–85. Cited in, Political Corruption: A Handbook, eds. Arnold Heidenheimer, Michael Johnston, and Victor T. LeVine. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers (1989) at 10. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Genovese, Michael A. 2010. “Presidential Corruption: A Longitudinal Analysis.” In Corruption and American Politics, eds. Genovese, Michael A. and Farrar-Myers, Victoria. New York: Cambria Press.Google Scholar
Hall, Richard L., and Van Houweling, Robert P.. 2006. “Campaign Contributions and Lobbying on the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia. Google Scholar
Johnston, Michael. 2006. “From Thucydides to Mayor Daley: Bad Politics, and a Culture of Corruption?” PS: Political Science and Politics 39 (4): 809–19.Google Scholar
Knott, Alex. 2011. “FEC Falls Short on Enforcement, Commissioner Says,” Roll Call, 27 May, http://www.rollcall.com/news/FEC_falls_short_enforcement_commissioner_Weintraub-206027-1.html.Google Scholar
Kroft, Steve. 2011. “Congress: Trading Stock on Inside Information?” 60 Minutes, November 13. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57323527/congress-exempt-from-insider-trading-laws/.Google Scholar
Olken, Benjamin A., and Pande, Rohini. 2011. “Corruption in Developing Countries.” NBER Working Paper No. 17398 (September). Google Scholar
Peters, John G., and Welch, Susan. 1978. “Political Corruption in America: A Search for Definitions and a Theory, or If Political Corruption Is in the Mainstream of American Politics Why Is It Not in the Mainstream of American Politics Research?” The American Political Science Review 72 (3): 974–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Philip, Mark. 1997. “Defining Political Corruption.” Political Studies 45: 436–62.Google Scholar
Stigler, George. 1971. “The Theory of Economic Regulation.” Bell Journal of Economic and Management Science 2 (Spring): 3–21.Google Scholar
Thurber, James A. 2010. “Changing the Way Washington Works? President Obama's Battle with Lobbyists.” Presented at the Conference on The Early Obama Presidency, London. Google Scholar
Warren, Mark E. 2006. “Political Corruption as Duplicitous Exclusion.” PS: Political Science and Politics 37 (4): 803–07.Google Scholar
Wertheimer, Fred, and Simon, Don. 2013. “The FEC: The Failure to Enforce Commission.” American Constitution Society Issue Brief (January): 1–22. Google Scholar
Wilhite, Allen, and Theilmann, John. 1987. “Labor PAC Contributions and Labor Legislation: A Simultaneous Logit Approach.” Public Choice 53 (June): 267–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, Molly J. Walker. 2010. “Behavioral Decision Theory and Implications for the Supreme Court's Campaign Finance Jurisprudence.” Cardozo Law Review 31: 649–747.Google Scholar