The Concept of Political Corruption

The paper offers a genealogy of the concept of political corruption commencing from pre-behavioral scholarship and moving to later strands of thought developed between the 1950s and 1990s. The author argues that later strands of thought, commencing post-1990s, moved away from positivist standards and that political corruption began to be understood as a constellation of behaviors that subordinate the political order for private interests. The author argues for an integrated manner for studying political corruption where behavioral approaches are examined alongside morality, realism and structural approaches. Additionally, the author argues that the conceptualization of political corruption should allow for certain forms of action that might be considered corruption in legalistic terms (and that undermine or contradict liberal ideals) but which may ultimately enhance democracy and freedom.