The Sale of Public Office

The article argues that one manifestation of corruption is the historic sale of public offices that the author traces to as early as the middle ages, if not to an earlier period. While this used to be widespread, and even an institutionalized part of some governments, there was never uniformity in the way the sale of offices materialized from context to context. The author examines this institution in its political, social, economic and historic setting, and in numerous locations around the world. The author also argues that the sale of public offices had numerous causes and effects. Historically, offices were seen as private property which was absent during the Ottoman Empire. The author delves into a historic account of sales of offices that took part hundreds of years ago, and does not bring the discussion to the modern context.