Hellmann, Olli (2017) The historical origins of corruption in the developing world: a comparative analysis of East Asia. Crime, Law and Social Change. ISSN 0925-4994

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Abstract

A new approach has emerged in the literature on corruption in the developing world that breaks with the assumption that corruption is driven by individualistic self-interest and, instead, conceptualizes corruption as an informal system of norms and practices. While this emerging neo-institutionalist approach has done much to further our understanding of corruption in the developing world, one key question has received relatively little attention: how do we explain differences in the institutionalization of corruption between developing countries? The paper here addresses this question through a systematic comparison of seven developing and newly industrialized countries in East Asia. The argument that emerges through this analysis is that historical sequencing mattered: countries in which the "political marketplace" had gone through a process of concentration before universal suffrage was introduced are now marked by less harmful types of corruption than countries where mass voting rights where rolled out in a context of fragmented political marketplaces. The paper concludes by demonstrating that this argument can be generalized to the developing world as a whole.

Item Type:	Article
Schools and Departments:	School of Law, Politics and Sociology > Politics
Subjects:	J Political Science > JF Political institutions (General) > JF0020 General. Comparative government J Political Science > JF Political institutions (General) > JF0020 General. Comparative government > JF0799 Political rights. Political participation > JF1081 Political corruption J Political Science > JQ Political institutions and public administration (Asia, Africa, Australia, Pacific Area, etc.) > JQ0021 Asia > JQ1499 East Asia Including China, Japan, Korea
Depositing User:	Olli Hellmann
Date Deposited:	04 Jan 2017 12:53
Last Modified:	07 Mar 2017 09:42
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/66026

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