Corruption vs Integrity: Comparative Insights on the Problematic of Legitimacy

Abstract

My interest in corruption and in its tension with integrity is in many ways a by-product of my interest in how dominant groups manage power and relate with the rest of society. Doubtful that among the élite (as among the non-élite) moral themes are basically an opportunistic veneer for the pursuit of profit (monetary, political, and symbolic), I have pursued a complex view of the relationship between the élites’ moralities and behaviors (Pardo, 1996; see also Prato, 2000a, b); the sine qua non being that to understand such a relationship and its practical ramifications we need to penetrate empirically the nature of voluntary action and, therefore, how concepts of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ and ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are understood and made to operate. Over the years, this research direction has brought to light highly problematic issues in the democratic model of associated life, which I address in this chapter, drawing on historical and contemporary evidence from Great Britain and Italy and on complementary comparative insights