2012 Articles

Corruption's Challenge to Democracy: A Review of the Issues

Lagunes, Paul Felipe

This article examines the challenge that corruption poses to democracy. Democracy is attractive because it offers people a state that is accountable to the public. This is a guarantee founded on the notion that sovereign power belongs to the citizenry. A corollary to this idea is that government officials are the public's agents. Thus, when civil servants use their position of authority to serve their personal interests, they weaken the democratic regime's legitimacy and place the entire social contract at risk. Given the risks associated with corruption, the battle to curb this undesirable behavior through the use of multiple mechanisms of accountability is necessary.