How Different Forms of Corruption Influence Electoral Engagement

• In Event: The Link between Gender and Political Corruption

Abstract

Despite recent innovations in corruption studies, influential research on the causes and effects of corruption still investigates corruption as a problem that varies in scale between societies, while ignoring that corruption can take vastly different forms. This paper suggests that failing to consider the vastly different nature of different kind of corruption risk leading to false inferences about both the effects of corruption and the effectiveness of anticorruption reforms. Using newly collected regional level survey data covering 212 European regions this paper investigates the link between different forms of corruption and electoral mobilization against corruption. The results show that need corruption has different effects than greed corruption on citizens responses to corruption, and in particular the extent to which it leads to loyalty to corrupt politicians, makes them voice discontent or, alternatively, simply choose to exit from the political system altogether. Gender, moreover, plays a key role: There are differences in the extent to which women and men perceive the prevalence of different forms of corruption which in turn has implications for electoral punishment.

Author

• Monika Bauhr, University of Gothenburg