Political Competition and Political Corruption

Abstract

Textbooks on the theory of democracy ascribe to democratic competition a hygienic effect: efficient democratic competition allows citizens to sanction ‘badly behaving’ politicians - voters can ‘throw the rascals out’. Yet, one has a hard time to fit empirical evidence with this textbook account of democracy no matter which indicator of political competition one refers to. As a matter of fact, as Carolyn Warner amongst others has argued, corruption and patronage can be seen as means of party competition. So, is there no connection between political competition and corruption at all?

Title	Details
Irregularities in Party and Campaign Finance and Abuse of State Resources	View Paper Details
The Finance of Individual internal Party Races in Systems of Proportional Representation	View Paper Details
Political Entrepreneurship and Predatory Rule: Explaining Political Corruption in Advanced Democracies	View Paper Details
Transparency and Corruption: A Comparative Study	View Paper Details