Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review
Abstract
The United States appears to be going through a crisis of corruption. However, it is hard to know whether this is a matter of appearance or if the country is at risk of high levels of corruption making a comeback. The Article applies the equilibrium model of corruptionthe leading social science account of how corruption operates-to the current U.S. system, and shows that the United States may indeed be backsliding. The potential for corruption to creep back up is due to more than the political moment. Rather, it is the result ofpolitics combined with the relatively powerless institutional controls for corruption in the United States. Recent Supreme Court decisions have narrowed the statutory definition of criminal corruption while at the same time widened the possibilities for corporate influences in politics. Meanwhile, the current Federal executive has shown that there are essentially no avenues to force compliance with governance norms. While these changes on their own do not imply that widespread, unchecked corruption is around the corner, they expose the weaknesses of the current system and the possibility that America could see high levels of corruption return.
Disciplines
Comparative and Foreign Law | Constitutional Law | Criminal Law | Criminal Procedure | Election Law | International Law | Law | Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility | President/Executive Department | Supreme Court of the United States
Recommended Citation
Pedro Gerson,
Return of the King: Corruption Backsliding in America,
3
Cardozo Int’l & Compar. L. Rev.
985
(2020).
Available at:
https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/ciclr/vol3/iss3/7
Included in
Comparative and Foreign Law Commons, Constitutional Law Commons, Criminal Law Commons, Criminal Procedure Commons, Election Law Commons, International Law Commons, Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons, President/Executive Department Commons, Supreme Court of the United States Commons