Political Ethics, Corruption Syndromes, and Governance

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering ethical decision-making frameworks, forms and costs of political corruption, institutional syndromes, machine politics, and U.S. campaign finance history.

Markkula Ethical Decision Making Process

A five-stage framework for ethical decision making consisting of: 1) Recognize an ethical issue, 2) Get the facts, 3) Evaluate alternative actions, 4) Make and test a decision, and 5) Act and reflect on the outcome.

Utilitarian Lens

An ethical evaluation tradition within the Markkula framework that asks which option produces the greatest good and the least harm.

Rights Lens

An ethical evaluation tradition within the Markkula framework that asks which option best respects the rights and moral dignity of everyone involved.

Justice Lens

An ethical evaluation tradition within the Markkula framework that asks which option treats people equally or fairly and proportionately.

Common Good Lens

An ethical evaluation tradition within the Markkula framework that asks which option best serves the community or society as a whole.

Virtue Lens

An ethical evaluation tradition within the Markkula framework that asks which option leads an individual to act as the kind of person they want to be.

Neo-patrimonialism

A hybrid system of governance where informal, personal authority coexists with formal, legal-rational state institutions.

Dual Facade

A defining characteristic of neo-patrimonialism where the regime maintains the external appearance of a modern, bureaucratic state (holding elections, passing laws, running ministries) while operating internally through informal personal rules.

Official Mogul Corruption

Systemic corruption involving powerful business tycoons and public officials, spanning economic, political, and social dimensions.

State Capture

A political and institutional cost of corruption where business moguls or clans manipulate regulatory bodies, judiciaries, and legislative processes, or control critical infrastructure, to protect private wealth rather than public safety.

Decentralization

The process of spreading power, control, data, and decision-making away from a single central authority, specifically transferring administrative, fiscal, and governing power to subnational or local authorities.

Asian Miracle

A period of unprecedented economic growth and development in East and Southeast Asia between 1965 and 1990.

Pervasiveness of Corruption

Widespread and deeply rooted dishonest, fraudulent, and illegal practices (such as bribery, extortion, embezzlement, or abuse of power) present at nearly every level of an organization, institution, society, or government.

Arbitrariness of Corruption

A state of corruption where bribe payments or illicit demands are unpredictable, uncertain, and do not guarantee a specific outcome, creating severe risks that discourage foreign investment and entrepreneurship.

Predictable (Organized) Corruption

A corrupt system with clear, established rules where businesses or citizens know who to bribe and how much to pay, allowing bribes to function like an informal contract or known, fixed tax.

Arbitrary (Disorganized) Corruption

A chaotic, uncoordinated corrupt system where paying a bribe offers no guarantee of service delivery, multiple independent rent-seekers extract bribes simultaneously, and informal contracts are completely unreliable.

Violence in Oligarch/Clan Corruption

A deliberate tool used by corrupt elite networks operating outside legal frameworks to enforce contracts, penalize betrayal, eliminate business rivals, and silence oversight like journalists and whistleblowers.

High-Level Corruption

Grand corruption involving high-ranking officials, political leaders, or business elites executing systemic schemes to divert large amounts of public funds, manipulate national laws, or trade influence for massive financial rewards.

Low-Level Corruption

Petty corruption involving street-level bureaucrats or local officials demanding small-scale bribes or kickbacks to speed up everyday administrative tasks or bypass routine penalties.

Governmental Intervention in the Economy

Action taken when a government or regulatory authority steps into the marketplace to alter its structure, behavior, or outcomes rather than leaving them strictly to free market forces.

Neo-populism

Modern political movements and styles of governance that revive traditional populist strategies through anti-establishment rhetoric and charismatic outsider leadership claiming to directly embody the people's will.

Informal Institutions

Unwritten social norms, customs, traditions, and codes of conduct that shape human behavior and political life, enforced through community standing, reputation, reciprocity, or peer pressure rather than official legal penalties.

Influence Markets

A corruption syndrome where private actors rent access and influence within secure, established policy systems characterized by strong, mature institutions, predictable rule of law, and competitive mass democracies (e.g., United States, Germany, Japan).

Elite Cartels

A corruption syndrome where interlocking networks of elites share spoils to consolidate power and stave off opposition within weaker, newer institutions and democratizing regimes with unpredictable competition (e.g., Italy, South Korea, Botswana).

Influence Markets vs. Elite Cartels Syndromes

A comparative framework contrasting two corruption models across core mechanisms, primary goals, institutional strength, political systems, and typical country examples.

Machine Politics

A local, county, or state political party organization led by a single autocratic boss or small, tight-knit group that maintains control over offices by trading tangible favors, jobs, and social support for votes and loyalty.

Spoils System

The reciprocal relationship between a political machine and the government wherein administrative loyalty is traded in exchange for public job security.

Functional Corruption

A perspective proposing that informal networks, patronage, or systemic sidestepping of formal rules operate as mechanisms that keep political or bureaucratic machinery running.

Newbury v. U.S. (1921)

A landmark 1921 U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that the U.S. Constitution does not grant Congress the authority to regulate or place spending limits on political party primary elections or nomination processes.

FECA (1974)

The Federal Election Campaign Act amendments of 1974, signed into law following the Watergate scandal to curb campaign finance corruption.

Buckley v. Valeo (1976)

A landmark 1976 U.S. Supreme Court decision concerning the constitutionality of campaign finance regulations.

Soft Money

Unregulated or lightly regulated money donated to political parties, organizations, or non-federal accounts rather than directly to a specific candidate's campaign.

BCRA (2002)

The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, a federal law amending the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to regulate the financing of political campaigns.

Effort Effect of Campaign Contributions

A concept in political economy where campaign contributions function as an investment of resources or effort by donors to influence electoral outcomes, signal information to politicians, or shift policy decisions.

Electoral Effect of Campaign Contributions

The phenomenon in U.S. federal elections where top spenders historically win roughly $94\%$ of House races and $82\%$ of Senate races, offering greater marginal benefits to non-incumbent challengers than incumbents.

Gift Theory of Campaign Contributions

A perspective viewing political donations not strictly as direct financial trades for specific legislative votes, but through the lens of a gift economy and ongoing social exchange.

Ethics of Process

An area of political ethics focusing on public officials, their decision-making methods, and institutional integrity, including campaign finance, conflicts of interest, and truth in political communication.

Ethics of Policy

An area of political ethics focusing on the moral foundations, objectives, and real-world impacts of government legislation, including distributive justice, human rights, competing goals, and criminal punishment.