Political corruption: The power of the game. The case of Israel.
Item
-
Title
-
Political corruption: The power of the game. The case of Israel.
-
Identifier
-
AAI9207123
-
identifier
-
9207123
-
Creator
-
Shiran, Vicki.
-
Contributor
-
Adviser: Robert Kelly
-
Date
-
1991
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Sociology, Criminology and Penology | Political Science, General
-
Abstract
-
The study analyzes the relationship between political corruption and the political system from a critical perspective. The analysis works on two levels. First: the general, theoretical level deals with the conceptualization of political corruption and revolves particularly around the debate over definitions. This study uses a definition which concurs with both legal rules and practical definitions of corruption by the courts. Further, the study develops a concept, termed "politicization and decriminalization", aimed at explaining the strategy of political neutralization of criminal accountability. This strategy is employed by high-level politicians whenever their alleged corruption comes to public light.;The second level deals with the findings of my empirical research on the Israeli political system. The analysis combines both quantitative and qualitative methods. The three major propositions of the concept of "politicization and decriminalization" of high level political corruption make up the three hypotheses of this study: The first is that corrupt acts by high-level politicians which are publicly exposed are not likely to be resolved in the courts. Rather, allegations are likely to be decriminalized. Secondly, the process of politicization and decriminalization prevails in both politically stable and unstable periods. In stable periods the process is likely to go unnoticed, whereas it is likely to take the form of "scandals" when competition over power is more pronounced. Finally, that prosecution of corrupt behavior by high level politicians is likely to be inversely related to their political power (i.e., the power-position of their party and their own power position within the party); the more politically powerful the politicians involved, the less likely that they will be prosecuted as criminals. Conversely, the less politically powerful the politicians involved, the greater the probability of criminalization. The data uncovered by the research show all three hypotheses to be valid.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
