1st Edition
by Staffan Andersson (Author), Frank Anechiarico (Author)
Corruption in politics and public
administration is pervasive and difficult to eliminate. It has a strong
effect on public attitudes toward government and is at the same time
badly understood. A clear, comprehensive understanding of corruption is
critical to the goal of ethical government that is trusted by the
public.
In this short and accessible text, Staffan Andersson and
Frank Anechiarico demonstrate how the dynamics of life in organizations
both generate corruption and make it difficult to prevent without
undermining the effectiveness of government. They argue that how we
define corruption, how we measure it, and how we try to combat it are
strongly interrelated and should not be seen as separate issues. The
authors demonstrate how this integrated approach, together with a focus
on the damage caused by corruption to civic inclusivity and
participation, can serve as an entry point for understanding the quality
of democracy and the challenge of good governance.
Using
examples from mainly the United States and Sweden, Andersson and
Anechiarico establish that recent anti-corruption reforms in public
administration have often been narrowly focused on bribery (exchange
corruption) and law enforcement approaches, while doing too little to
other problems and forms of corruption, such as interest conflict.
Corruption and Corruption Control: Democracy in the Balance will be of great interest to all students of politics, public administration and management, and ethics.