www.qog.pol.gu.se

Department of Political Science

University of Gothenburg

Work package 2: History of corruption in a comparative perspective

Andreas BågenholmAndreas.bagenholm@pol.gu.se

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Objectives• To provide a grounded historical/developmental perspective of several key

concepts and practices related to the perception, detection, and handling of corruption across several regions and periods.

• To conduct several case-studies illuminating continuity and change in the history of the relations of public morals and government, origins of mechanisms of checks and balances, the impartiality and autonomy of magistracies.

• In the cases of early modern Northern European countries special emphasis will be laid on the reforms in different areas in a short period of time in order to come to terms with corrupt behavior.

• To develop a research network of historians working on the topic of corruption across periods and regions and encourage them to examine their work vis-à-vis developments in other disciplines.

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Projects on pre-modern history of corruption

• Guy Geltner (UNIAM): 'Fighting corruption in medieval cities‘

• André Vitória (UNIAM): ‘Portugal and the History of Late Medieval Anti-Corruption: A Comparative Study’

• Maaike van Berkel (UNIAM): ‘Fighting corruption between theory and practice in the medieval Middle East’

• Alina Mungiu-Pippidi (HERTIE): ‘Republican, monarchical and democratic designs of corruption containment: a comparison’.

• Ovidiu Olar (SAR) ‘Rules of governance, exceptions, and networks in South-Eastern Europe. The political theory of patriarch Kyrillos Loukaris (1570-1638)

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Projects on modern history of corruption

• Muhittin Acar (HAT): Ottoman empire’s struggle with maladministration and corruption during Tanzimat period (1839-1876)

• Mette Frisk-Jensen (QoG): The Danish History of Anti-Corruption 1700 – 1950

• Andreas Bågenholm (QoG): Curbing corruption in Sweden in the 19th century

• James Kennedy (UNIAM): Dutch Anticorruption Mechanisms, 1750-2000

• Sanne Deckwitz (UNIAM): Corruption and Good Governance in the Netherlands Indies and the Philippines, 1850-1942

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WP 2 updates

• New recruitment: André Vitória (UNIAM)

• Two literature review deliverables (September)

• WP-meeting in Amsterdam in October

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Discussion

• How can history help us to combat corruption today?

• What lessons may we draw from history?• Comparability:

–Patterns and trajectories–Are concepts, such as corruption and

Weberianism, relevant historically?• What is success and what is evidence of success?• Is “Getting to Denmark” teleological?

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A couple of problems

• Not much research on corruption history done so far• Assess the amount of corruption, i.e. the key concept

and the dependent variable in the modern studies.• Assess when equilibria are changed, i.e. finding the

most relevant periods to study.• Lack of good indicators• Weberianism as a proxy for good government and lack

of corruption• Court cases, convictions, citizen complaints etc.• Sources