Corruption control in the United States: law, values, and the political foundations of reform

Abstract

The United States is generally regarded as more successful than most other societies at controlling corruption. But how accurate is that picture? I argue that corruption control in the US is more problematical than index scores suggest. Much corruption in the United States flies beneath the radar; while legal institutions are credible the United States often ‘controls’ abusive uses of wealth by removing restrictions that elsewhere are the focus of corruption. That strategy may reduce high-level bribery, but major questions of justice and accountability remain. In liberal democracies such as the US, whose corruption can be seen as ‘influence markets’, value-based controls, many applied through political processes, are crucial. If the political order is perceived by most citizens as inherently corrupt, those kinds of controls may be seriously undermined. Points for practitioners Officials and others concerned with corruption control in liberal democracies should pay close attention to public opinion and social values, not just as a source of general guidance but as a barometer indicating the state of values-based corruption controls. While the separation of politics and administration remains important in many ways, in other respects healthy and competitive political processes can be critical, both in lending force and legitimacy to corruption controls and as indications of what citizens and civil society regard as integrity – or, as its absence. Most widely used corruption indicators will tell us little about these key dimensions of corruption control.