Political corruption
Political corruption is the abuse of public power or entrusted political authority for private gain, including bribery, embezzlement, and favoritism.
Bribery: Offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting something valuable to influence an official act. Payments can buy decisions, contracts, votes, or protection from enforcement.
Clientelism: A political arrangement in which individualized benefits are exchanged for political support. Corrupt favors can turn public resources into tools for securing votes and loyalty.
Lobbying: Efforts to influence public officials or policy decisions on behalf of an organized interest. Lobbying can be lawful advocacy, unlike exchanges that misuse entrusted authority for private gain.
Anti-corruption agency: A public institution tasked with preventing, investigating, or prosecuting corruption. Specialized agencies can investigate misconduct that ordinary institutions overlook or cannot address.
Watergate scandal: A United States political scandal involving a break-in, a cover-up, and abuses of presidential power in the 1970s. The cover-up exposed how political authority could be used to obstruct investigation and accountability.
Embezzlement: The fraudulent appropriation of property entrusted to someone’s care. Officials can divert public funds or assets they control.
State capture: The shaping of a state’s laws and policies by powerful private interests for their own benefit. It describes corruption that reaches the rules governing the state itself.
Whistleblowing: The disclosure of information about suspected wrongdoing within an organization. Whistleblowers can expose corrupt conduct hidden inside public institutions.
Auditing: The systematic examination of records, processes, or accounts to assess their accuracy and compliance. Audits can reveal irregular spending, missing assets, and weaknesses in financial controls.
Tammany Hall: A New York City political organization associated with machine politics and patronage, especially in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Its history shows how patronage networks could bind voters to party organizations.