Understanding Political Corruption

This book examines the development and persistence of political corruption. Arvind Jain explores how corrupt regimes deploy a range of tools to control and weaken the mechanisms that monitor their actions, allowing them to expropriate a society's wealth while the international economy helps them safeguard their assets. Jain examines the many forms that corrupt regimes can assume, including individual political corruption, crony capitalism and corrupt authoritarian regimes. He conducts a detailed analysis of how these regimes limit the powers of the media, distort the constitution and manipulate the electoral process to consolidate their control. The book also delves into the critical role of the international economy in facilitating political corruption by allowing the investment of illegitimately acquired wealth in global financial markets. Jain rethinks traditional paradigms by advocating for a greater focus on the role of monitoring institutions in order to combat political corruption. Students and scholars of political science, law and politics, economic crime and corruption will greatly benefit from this illuminating book. It is also a useful resource for anticorruption activists and reformers.