
Controlling Corruption
The Social Contract Approach
Bo Rothstein(Author)
Oxford University Press
Published on 18. March 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
208 pages
978-0-19-289491-5 (ISBN)
Description
This book presents a radically new approach of how societies can bring corruption under control.
Since the late 1990s, the detrimental effects of corruption to human well-being have become well established in research. This has resulted in a stark increase in anti-corruption programs launched by international organizations such as the World Bank, the African Union, the EU, as well as many national development organizations. Despite these efforts, evaluations of the effects of these anti-corruption programs have been disappointing. As it can be measured, it is difficult to find substantial effects from such anti-corruption programs.
The argument in this book is that this huge policy failure can be explained by three factors. Firstly, it argues that the corruption problem has been poorly conceptualized since what should count as the opposite of corruption has been left out. Secondly, the problem has been located in the wrong social spaces. It is neither a cultural nor a legal problem. Instead, it is for the most part located in what organization theory defines as the 'standard operating procedures' in social organizations. Thirdly, the general theory that has dominated anti-corruption efforts -- the principal-agent theory -- is based on serious misspecification of the basic nature of the problem. The book presents a reconceptualization of corruption and a new theory -- drawing on the tradition of the social contract - to explain it and motivate policies of how to get corruption under control. Several empirical cases serve to underpin this new theory ranging from the historical organization of religious practices to specific social policies, universal education, gender equality, and auditing. Combined, these amount to a strategic theory known as 'the indirect approach'.
Since the late 1990s, the detrimental effects of corruption to human well-being have become well established in research. This has resulted in a stark increase in anti-corruption programs launched by international organizations such as the World Bank, the African Union, the EU, as well as many national development organizations. Despite these efforts, evaluations of the effects of these anti-corruption programs have been disappointing. As it can be measured, it is difficult to find substantial effects from such anti-corruption programs.
The argument in this book is that this huge policy failure can be explained by three factors. Firstly, it argues that the corruption problem has been poorly conceptualized since what should count as the opposite of corruption has been left out. Secondly, the problem has been located in the wrong social spaces. It is neither a cultural nor a legal problem. Instead, it is for the most part located in what organization theory defines as the 'standard operating procedures' in social organizations. Thirdly, the general theory that has dominated anti-corruption efforts -- the principal-agent theory -- is based on serious misspecification of the basic nature of the problem. The book presents a reconceptualization of corruption and a new theory -- drawing on the tradition of the social contract - to explain it and motivate policies of how to get corruption under control. Several empirical cases serve to underpin this new theory ranging from the historical organization of religious practices to specific social policies, universal education, gender equality, and auditing. Combined, these amount to a strategic theory known as 'the indirect approach'.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 230 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
334 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-289491-5 (9780192894915)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Bo Rothstein is the August Roehss Chair in Political Science, University of Gothenburg and the co-founder of the Quality of Government Institute. A distinguished contributor to debates in political science over many years his books include Just Institutions Matter: The Moral and Political Logic of the Universal Welfare State (Cambridge University Press, 1998) and Making Sense of Corruption (with A Varraich, Cambridge University Press, 2017).
Author
August Roehss Chair in Political ScienceAugust Roehss Chair in Political Science, University of Gothenburg
Content
1: A New Strategy for Anti-Corruption
2: Religion, Corruption, and the Social Contract
3: Getting to Sweden I: War and Anti-Corruption
4: Getting to Sweden II: Breaking with Corruption
5: Universal Education: A Social Contract Against Corruption
6: Gender Equality, Impartiality, and Meritocracy
7: Auditing, Trust, and the Social Contract
8: The Universal Welfare State as a Social Contract
9: The Social Contract and the Indirect Approach to Anti-Corruption
2: Religion, Corruption, and the Social Contract
3: Getting to Sweden I: War and Anti-Corruption
4: Getting to Sweden II: Breaking with Corruption
5: Universal Education: A Social Contract Against Corruption
6: Gender Equality, Impartiality, and Meritocracy
7: Auditing, Trust, and the Social Contract
8: The Universal Welfare State as a Social Contract
9: The Social Contract and the Indirect Approach to Anti-Corruption