Corrupt Exchanges: Actors, Resources, and Mechanisms of Political Corruption

By Donatella della Porta

Book Overview

Political corruption has traditionally been presented as a phenomenon characteristic of developing countries, authoritarian regimes, or societies in which the value system favored tacit patrimony and clientelism. Recently, however, the thesis of an inverse correlation between corruption and economic and political development (and therefore democratic "maturity") has been frequently and convincingly challenged. Countries with a long democratic tradition, such as the United States, Belgium, Britain, and Italy, have all experienced a combination of headline-grabbing scandals and smaller-scale cases of misappropriation.In Corrupt Exchanges, primary research on Italian cases (judicial proceedings, in-depth interviews, parliamentary documents, and press databases), combined with a cross-national comparison based on a secondary analysis of corruption in democratic systems, is used to develop a model to analyze corruption as a network of illegal exchanges. The authors explore in great detail the structure of that network, by examining both the characteristics of the actors who directly engage in the corruption and the resources they exchange. These processes of degeneration have caused a crisis in the dominant paradigm in both academic and political considerations of corruption.The book is organized around the analysis of the resources that are exchanged and of the different actors who take part. Politicians in business, illegal brokers, Mafia members, protected entrepreneurs, and party-appointed bureaucrats exchange resources on the illegal market, altering the institutional system of interactions between the state and the market. In this complex web of exchanges, bonds of trust are established that allow the corrupt exchange to thrive. The book will serve both as a theoretical approach to a political problem of large bearing on democratic institutions and a descriptive warning of a system in peril.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0202306003
• ISBN13: 9780202306001
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 329 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Important analysis

This is the best review of government corruption that I've read. It is at times overly academic, but the scope and detail are excellent. No simple solutions are offered. In fact, there are few suggestions of any kind. The authors try to evaluate the Italian corruption prosecutions of the 90s and leave it at that. There is a wide range of governmental graft described, but most involves government construction contracts and job placements. In the last quarter of the book, mafia violence is considered. The book doesn't assume any 'political' agenda. Communist, socialist and free-marketeer seem equally interested in taking bribes in return for the government favors they might happen to control. Mechanics of specific transactions are described in detail, and little effort is made to look into the motivations. In their conclusion, the authors make the point that the Italian corruption trials of the 90s made little difference in the way government operated. The authors suggest Italian corruption reflects a lack of collaboration among Italian entrepreneurs. If the entrepreneurs had higher levels of cooperation, they could police their own members and stop efforts for individual gain through bribery and the threat of violence.

Excellent study on corruption

This is the best study i have ever read on corruption. As the authors systematicly examine the corruption in Italy, they provide very useful insights for the causes and consequences of corruption in general.(Social, political and economic). It is full of striking empirical examples and stories from the Italian businesses and govermental agencies. this book is both for the academist and normal reader. if you are working on a project on corruption, or just want to learn more about the resons of heavy corruption in developing and underdeveloped countries, this book is a must.