Annotated Bibliography: Government Corruption and Democracy

Introduction and Thesis

Corruption weakens the strength of a democracy, undermining public trust and leading to a downward spiral of apathy and discontent. Low voter participation itself becomes a major factor perpetuating the possibility of corruption. A feeling of powerlessness pervades even the most robust of the world's democracies. If democratic governments are to be responsive to the people they serve, corruption needs to be uprooted whenever it manifests. Reforming corrupt systems and reducing the likelihood of corrupt individuals maintaining positions of power requires a multifaceted approach that takes into account variables such as ethical culture and political climate.

Public perceptions of the reliability and accountability of government are also important factors, influenced in part by the media but also by social norms, ethics, and values. The importance of exposing corruption and uprooting it through effective dialogue and awareness cannot be underestimated, because democratic governments depend on transparency, openness, and trust.

Government corruption weakens governmental legitimacy and the principles of democracy. Therefore, developing effective systems of public accountability increases pressure for more transparent local governance, in which corruption will be easier to bring to light and thus to curtail.

Corruption Measurement and Supplier Collusion

Anderson, R. D., Jones, A., & Kovacic, W. E. (2018). Preventing corruption, supplier collusion, and the corrosion of civic trust. George Mason Law Review, Forthcoming TLI Think! Paper 5/2019, King's College London Law School Research Paper No. 19-14.

This source critiques existing tools for measuring the types and effects of multiple forms of corruption. Claiming that existing tools have proven ineffective and insufficient for truly capturing the extent of corruption's effects, the authors consider methods that can be used to strengthen and improve research methodologies. The authors then focus specifically on supplier collusion and corruption in public procurement markets, which are intimately related to government activities. Rigging and bribery are extreme examples of this type of corruption. The authors analyze quantitative indicators of corruption and provide case study examples of policy reform, as well as instances in which such policies failed. Ultimately, this source corroborates the others used in the bibliography and adds to the body of literature related to the types of government corruption and their impacts on public trust.

Media Bias and Public Perceptions of Legitimacy

Lelkes, Y. (2016). Winners, losers, and the press. Political Communication, 33(4), 523–543.

In this article, Lelkes addresses the relationship between the media — a presumably politically biased media — and public perceptions of legitimacy. Although the author begins with a biased assumption, it is instructive to note the methods used in this research. The author takes into account both individual variables and institutional factors in the analysis. Methodology includes public opinion survey data from 28 different countries, qualitative data from interviews with media professionals, and country-level indicators drawn from established data sources.

The findings of this mixed-methods research indicate that political parallelism is associated with larger gaps between so-called winners and losers, resulting in poorer public opinions about the legitimacy of elections, government, and public policy. The author concludes that media reform may be the key to reducing corruption worldwide. Because this author's approach to political corruption focuses on the media, it differs from the other sources used in the research and adds to them by providing an alternative point of view.

Corruption, Wealth Disparity, and Political Power

Newell, J. L. (2018). Corruption in contemporary politics. Manchester University Press.

In this book, Newell discusses the relationship between political corruption and wealth disparity. Newell also shows how power and wealth are connected, and how both the advantaged and disadvantaged classes can experience harmful effects from top-level government corruption. The author presents different types of methods used to measure and assess corruption, as well as ways to analyze the causal variables implicated in government corruption. Newell offers case study examples from different types of contemporary governments, including both democratic and non-democratic regimes.

One of the unique features of the book is its section on the minimum level of trust necessary to reduce or prevent corruption, along with a frank discussion of the role that scandal and the media play in exposing, critiquing, and in some situations fostering corruption. This is one of the more thorough sources used in the research, as it covers a wide range of issues related to government corruption, and it integrates well with the other sources as a valuable reference.