When studying early modern government, one often stumbles upon cases of corruption.
Some public functionary had been accused of transgressing the thin line separating normal administrative practice from abuse of power, and evidence had been brought against him. In some cases the accused might even have been sentenced. Now what ...
(Show more)When studying early modern government, one often stumbles upon cases of corruption.
Some public functionary had been accused of transgressing the thin line separating normal administrative practice from abuse of power, and evidence had been brought against him. In some cases the accused might even have been sentenced. Now what should we make of the imputations and condemnations we come across?
Finding corrupt behavior of officials in the archives is simple enough. Analyzing such cases to try and find out how corruption was actually perceived during the Ancien Regime is quite another matter. As it happens theoretical approaches to corruption, and definitions of the phenomenon abound in a number of academic disciplines, and finding one's way in that theoretical tangle is far from easy. In our contribution to ESSHC 2004 we aim to provide a survey of the field, to subsequently make an informed choice between the different theoretical approaches to corruption. Finally we test the theory of our choice by using it to analyze a 17th century Dutch case.
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