New Studies in Political Finance and Political Corruption

A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760). This special issue belongs to the section "Contemporary Politics and Society".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 2359

Special Issue Editor

Department of Political Science, Rider University, Lawrenceville, NJ, USA
Interests: middle eastern politics; political campaigns; comparative politics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cicero’s famous adage, “money is the sinews of war”, would, nowadays, probably be considered a truism that is not restricted to relations among states. It equally applies to domestic nonviolent encounters, such as the competition within and between political parties or the use and abuse of power by holders of office and citizens. Unlike most of those who furnish or extract large sums (of money or ‘in kind’), few citizens are familiar with the laws and regulations that define who can give, how much, to whom, and especially in return for what. Such questions are removed from the immediate horserace or major scandals which tend to monopolize attention. They also involve assumptions and expectations that may be removed from the interest of citizens who are unable to or uninterested in contributing or extracting large sums from those who claim to represent them. Laws, interests and situations shift from place to place and time to time,  and the effort to understand them requires constant adjustment to shifting circumstances. Nevertheless, such efforts yield suppositions that are not limited to the time and place. This Special Issue will examine specific developments in political finance and political corruption, with the aim of gaining a contemporary perspective as well as inferences that could be tested elsewhere.  The project, then, both expresses and furthers the ever-evolving interest in what constitutes one of the most essential and shifting facets of politics.

Prof. Dr. Jonathan Mendilow
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • political finance
  • political corruption
  • electoral system
  • political competition
  • national interest
  • international interest

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 312 KiB  
Article
Money in Electoral Campaigns: The Relationship between Money and Politics as a Cause of the Judicialization of Electoral Processes in Brazil
by Wagner Pralon Mancuso, Vanessa Elias de Oliveira, Bruno Wilhelm Speck and Rodrigo Rossi Horochovski
Soc. Sci. 2023, 12(12), 656; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12120656 - 27 Nov 2023
Viewed by 940
Abstract
The electoral court is a specialized branch of the Brazilian judiciary that not only organizes and regulates elections in the country but also resolves conflicts between political actors involved in the electoral process. The (mis)use of money in electoral campaigns is one of [...] Read more.
The electoral court is a specialized branch of the Brazilian judiciary that not only organizes and regulates elections in the country but also resolves conflicts between political actors involved in the electoral process. The (mis)use of money in electoral campaigns is one of the causes of the judicialization of electoral processes in Brazil. In fact, among many other reasons, such judicialization can occur when actors in the electoral process (candidates, parties, and party coalitions) are accused, either by their opponents and/or by the Electoral Public Prosecutor’s Office, of irregularities such as abuse of economic power, illegal fundraising or expenditure of electoral resources, electoral corruption, or falsification of the campaign’s accounting records. Through the study of electoral lawsuits filed between 2008 and 2016 against mayoral candidates, this work has two objectives: (i) to dimension the importance of the relationship between money and politics as a cause of the judicialization of electoral processes in Brazilian local elections and (ii) to characterize the candidates that appear as defendants in electoral lawsuits filed by that cause. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Studies in Political Finance and Political Corruption)

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13 pages, 300 KiB  
Essay
“Non-Corrupt Government”: Less Than Good, More Than Impartial
by Manuel Villoria
Soc. Sci. 2023, 12(12), 682; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12120682 - 12 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1014
Abstract
In recent years, the study of corruption has become one of the most prominent in the social sciences. If there is corruption, however, it is because something has been corrupted; something pure has been sullied. This pure element serves mainly as a normative [...] Read more.
In recent years, the study of corruption has become one of the most prominent in the social sciences. If there is corruption, however, it is because something has been corrupted; something pure has been sullied. This pure element serves mainly as a normative reference: It may never have constituted a social and political reality. However, the purpose of this article is to try to define what its components might be. In this way, theoretical considerations can be used to provide a more solid basis for the fight against corruption. The position of this paper is that the opposite of corruption should be explicitly defined without the use of abstract categories such as good governance or integrity. The paper will begin with a discussion of the concept of “non-corrupt government” and then proceed to a theoretical analysis of the main issues involved. It will conclude with some practical remarks on how to build, in the most parsimonious way, the benchmark of quality that corruption undermines. The contention is that a “non-corrupt government” is based on four principles: (1) equality (input side), (2) reasonableness (input side), (3) impartiality and professionalism of the administration (output side), and (4) accountability of the office (output side). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Studies in Political Finance and Political Corruption)
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