Dirty Little Secrets

Dirty Little Secrets
Author :
Publisher : Crown
Total Pages : 456
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0812924991
ISBN-13 : 9780812924992
Rating : 4/5 (91 Downloads)

Synopsis Dirty Little Secrets by : Larry Sabato

Political corruption in America is worse today than it has been since the Watergate era. Americans know it, and the politicians have known it for years. Urgent calls for reform have become standard fare, but nothing changes. A Democrat President and a Republican Congress were both elected on the strength of their promises of reform. Neither has delivered. Americans contemplate the tottering remains of our ethically bankrupt political system with despair. Fact: The Christian Coalition's 1994 voter guides appear to have been skewered to favor Republican candidates in key congressional races across the country, in direct contravention of federal election law. The truth is, the politicians couldn't be happier dickering over the remains of the welfare state. Because, as you'll learn in Dirty Little Secrets, there is probably not a politician in America who does not benefit directly, personally, and continually from the status quo. Fact: The state Democratic party in Tennessee paid sums in excess of six figures to a number of groups and organizations for various political services in 1994. The problem? None of the groups actually exist, except on paper. Our Politicians, from those in the highest reaches of the Republican and Democratic parties to those in the humblest state congressional districts, evade, massage, and even break the law in order to hold on to power. But instead of merely unmasking corrupt politicians in every region of the country, Dirty Little Secrets analyzes why corruption persists in American politics, despite scandal after scandal, and in spite of periodic bursts of reform. Fact: On the eve of the 1994 elections, mock "pollsters" called up thousand ofvoters in one Wisconsin congressional district to ask whether their electoral decisions would be influenced if they knew one of the candidates was a lesbian. Most politicians want to do the right thing. But they also want to be reelected, and the system is far stronger than any honest man or woman. The influence of money and the intricacies of the levers of power make it easier for politicians to ignore the law than to obey it. In Dirty Little Secrets you will read of the conservative movement's hidden manipulations in 1994, and learn the truth about Newt Gingrich's twenty-year program of political destabilization. The history of the corrupt House the Democrats built with the help of liberal interest groups stands revealed. And Larry J. Sabato and Glenn R. Simpson expose the corrupt and illegal tactics both parties have used for decades to protect and promote their own power. Fact: In 1994, in Alabama, one local election was decided by three hundred votes. Seventeen hundred ballots cast in that election were illegally admitted absentee ballots, some of them submitted by dead people. Sabato and Simpson's fresh reporting and thousands of hours of background research include interviews with influential politicians, consultants, and political operatives, Freedom of Information Act requests, and thousands of pages of obscure campaign reports. They prove corruption is not about bad apples or colorful local traditions. And they offer a completely original plan for reform--Deregulation Plus--that will frighten both parties and make the American electorate smile for the first time in years. Dirty Little Secrets pulls together the corruption story from all parts of the country sooverwhelmingly that no one--from the White House to your house--will be able to deny that political reform must be one of the key issues of the 1996 election campaign.

Corruption and Government

Corruption and Government
Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Total Pages : 292
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0521659124
ISBN-13 : 9780521659123
Rating : 4/5 (24 Downloads)

Synopsis Corruption and Government by : Susan Rose-Ackerman

How high levels of corruption limit investment and growth can lead to ineffective government.

Corruption and Government

Corruption and Government
Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Total Pages : 643
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781107081208
ISBN-13 : 1107081203
Rating : 4/5 (08 Downloads)

Synopsis Corruption and Government by : Susan Rose-Ackerman

This new edition of a 1999 classic shows how institutionalized corruption can be fought through sophisticated political-economic reform.

The Politics of Corruption in Dictatorships

The Politics of Corruption in Dictatorships
Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Total Pages : 333
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781107083233
ISBN-13 : 1107083230
Rating : 4/5 (33 Downloads)

Synopsis The Politics of Corruption in Dictatorships by : Vineeta Yadav

This book analyzes why some dictators find it in their self-interest to curb corruption.

Corruption & Politics in Contemporary Mexico

Corruption & Politics in Contemporary Mexico
Author :
Publisher : University of Alabama Press
Total Pages : 228
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0817305254
ISBN-13 : 9780817305253
Rating : 4/5 (54 Downloads)

Synopsis Corruption & Politics in Contemporary Mexico by : Stephen D. Morris

This book addresses the causes, effects, and dynamics of political corruption in Mexico. Systematic analysis of corruption is critical to a better understanding of the politics of Mexico, and despite the many conceptual and methodological obstacles, the importance of the subject matter demands treatment. Morris's work should therefore be seen not as definitive, but as an initial step in understanding a central dimension of Mexican politics. Corruption, as a topic of research, invites certain misunderstandings, as it is a broad concept conveying a variety of moral connotations. This inquiry into political corruption is not intended to depict the Mexican people or society as any less or more moral than others. The study draws on extensive content analysis of news reports from the Mexican press, a public opinion poll conducted in 1986, and personal interviews. The objective is not to expose scandals and wrongdoing by Mexican officials, name names, or point fingers; it is an academic endeavor. The author discusses scandals and gives examples of corruption for illustrative purposes, but his analysis is more theoretical than anecdotal. He questions whether in fact corruption has enhanced or diminished the stability of the Mexican government, and examines the reasons for the failure of many anti-corruption efforts.

Political Corruption in Africa

Political Corruption in Africa
Author :
Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages : 217
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781788972529
ISBN-13 : 178897252X
Rating : 4/5 (29 Downloads)

Synopsis Political Corruption in Africa by : Inge Amundsen

Analysing political corruption as a distinct but separate entity from bureaucratic corruption, this timely book separates these two very different social phenomena in a way that is often overlooked in contemporary studies. Chapters argue that political corruption includes two basic, critical and related processes: extractive and power-preserving corruption.

An Intellectual History of Political Corruption

An Intellectual History of Political Corruption
Author :
Publisher : Springer
Total Pages : 292
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781137316615
ISBN-13 : 1137316616
Rating : 4/5 (15 Downloads)

Synopsis An Intellectual History of Political Corruption by : B. Buchan

Few concepts have witnessed a more dramatic resurgence of interest in recent years than corruption. This book provides a compelling historical and conceptual analysis of corruption which demonstrates a persistent oscillation between restrictive 'public office' and expansive 'degenerative' connotations of corruption from classical Antiquity to 1800.

Routledge Handbook of Political Corruption

Routledge Handbook of Political Corruption
Author :
Publisher : Routledge
Total Pages : 381
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781317575931
ISBN-13 : 1317575938
Rating : 4/5 (31 Downloads)

Synopsis Routledge Handbook of Political Corruption by : Paul M. Heywood

Since the early 1990s, a series of major scandals in both the financial and most especially the political world has resulted in close attention being paid to the issue of corruption and its links to political legitimacy and stability. Indeed, in many countries – in both the developed as well as the developing world – corruption seems to have become almost an obsession. Concern about corruption has become a powerful policy narrative: the explanation of last resort for a whole range of failures and disappointments in the fields of politics, economics and culture. In the more established democracies, worries about corruption have become enmeshed in a wider debate about trust in the political class. Corruption remains as widespread today, possibly even more so, as it was when concerted international attention started being devoted to the issue following the end of the Cold War. This Handbook provides a showcase of the most innovative and exciting research being conducted in Europe and North America in the field of political corruption, as well as providing a new point of reference for all who are interested in the topic. The Handbook is structured around four core themes in the study of corruption in the contemporary world: understanding and defining the nature of corruption; identifying its causes; measuring its extent; and analysing its consequences. Each of these themes is addressed from various perspectives in the first four sections of the Handbook, whilst the fifth section explores new directions that are emerging in corruption research. The contributors are experts in their field, working across a range of different social-science perspectives.

Political Corruption in a World in Transition

Political Corruption in a World in Transition
Author :
Publisher : Vernon Press
Total Pages : 337
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781622737697
ISBN-13 : 1622737695
Rating : 4/5 (97 Downloads)

Synopsis Political Corruption in a World in Transition by : Jonathan Mendilow

This book argues that the mainstream definitions of corruption, and the key expectations they embed concerning the relationship between corruption, democracy, and the process of democratization, require reexamination. Even critics who did not consider stable institutions and legal clarity of veteran democracies as a cure-all, assumed that the process of widening the influence on government decision making and implementation allows non-elites to defend their interests, define the acceptable sources and uses of wealth, and demand government accountability. This had proved correct, especially insofar as ‘petty corruption’ is involved. But the assumption that corruption necessarily involves the evasion of democratic principles and a ‘market approach’ in which the corrupt seek to maximize profit does not exhaust the possible incentives for corruption, the types of behaviors involved (for obvious reasons, the tendency in the literature is to focus on bribery), or the range of situations that ‘permit’ corruption in democracies. In the effort to identify some of the problems that require recognition, and to offer a more exhaustive alternative, the chapters in this book focus on corruption in democratic settings (including NGOs and the United Nations which were largely so far ignored), while focusing mainly on behaviors other than bribery.

Corrupt Illinois

Corrupt Illinois
Author :
Publisher : University of Illinois Press
Total Pages : 289
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780252097034
ISBN-13 : 0252097033
Rating : 4/5 (34 Downloads)

Synopsis Corrupt Illinois by : Thomas J. Gradel

Public funds spent on jets and horses. Shoeboxes stuffed with embezzled cash. Ghost payrolls and incarcerated ex-governors. Illinois' culture of "Where's mine?" and the public apathy it engenders has made our state and local politics a disgrace. In Corrupt Illinois, veteran political observers Thomas J. Gradel and Dick Simpson take aim at business-as-usual. Naming names, the authors lead readers through a gallery of rogues and rotten apples to illustrate how generations of chicanery have undermined faith in, and hope for, honest government. From there, they lay out how to implement institutional reforms that provide accountability and eradicate the favoritism, sweetheart deals, and conflicts of interest corroding our civic life. Corrupt Illinois lays out a blueprint to transform our politics from a pay-to-play–driven marketplace into what it should be: an instrument of public good.