Making Corruption Disappear in Local Government

Adam Masters, Adam Graycar

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

27 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Local government corruption is a phenomenon across the world. This article draws upon survey work in Victoria, Australia, to show that citizens believe that corruption exists in local government and experience it, but rarely report it to an anti-corruption agency or elsewhere. Even when reported, tracing the outcome from state-level authorities to the local government becomes an exercise in futility, because the corrupt act is dealt with in policy frameworks that make it effectively disappear. As a result, corruption as perceived or experienced in the everyday life of citizens is different from what is defined in law and dealt with by public bodies. While the data here are Australian, the lessons and principles can be applied in many other countries.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)42-58
Number of pages17
JournalPublic Integrity
Volume18
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Jan 2016

Keywords

  • bribery
  • corruption
  • independent commission against corruption
  • local government

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