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 …

Corruption is oftentimes perceived as a universal phenomenon that has existed through time
and space. Many academic papers and policy documents are introduced by sentences such
as “ever since antiquity, corruption has been one of the most widespread and insidious of
social evils”. 1 This chapter takes a different standpoint, understanding corruption as a social
and historical construct, characterized by conceptual ambiguity, which should be studied
using discursive and conceptual perspectives. The word has not had a stable meaning …