The Historical Roots of Corruption
Mass Education, Economic Inequality, and State Capacity

This book argues that corruption levels today depend largely upon the level of education in a country over a century ago.

Eric M. Uslaner (Author)

9781108416481, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 12 October 2017

205 pages, 34 b/w illus. 13 tables
23.5 x 15.6 x 1.5 cm, 0.44 kg

'Eric M. Uslaner's account of corruption belongs to the most thoughtful in theory, the most convincing in eloquence and the most conclusive in terms of the breadth and depth of its empirical evidence. Excelling on so many different levels in the key domain of 'good governance' is a unique achievement.' Christian Welzel, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Germany

Why does corruption persist over long periods of time? Why is it so difficult to eliminate? Suggesting that corruption is deeply rooted in the underlying social and historical political structures of a country, Uslaner observes that there is a powerful statistical relationship between levels of mass education in 1870 and corruption levels in 2010 across 78 countries. He argues that an early introduction of universal education is shown to be linked to levels of economic equality and to efforts to increase state capacity. Societies with more equal education gave citizens more opportunities and power for opposing corruption, whilst the need for increased state capacity was a strong motivation for the introduction of universal education in many countries. Evidence for this argument is presented from statistical models, case studies from Northern and Southern Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as a discussions of how some countries escaped the 'trap' of corruption.

1. The theoretical framework
2. The quantitative evidence
3. Education in the developed countries (Northern and Southern Europe)
4. Education outside the developed countries: Africa, Latin America, Asia
5. Education in the Anglo-American countries
6. Is path dependence forever: how some countries reduced corruption.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB]