In earlier chapters we discussed various normative aspects of social institutions including human rights (such as individual autonomy) in institutional settings, the application of principles of distributive justice to institutions, and the collective moral responsibility of institutional actors. Another extremely important normative aspect of social institutions is corruption. If illegitimate social institutions can compromise individual autonomy and other human rights, corruption can undermine legitimate social institutions. In the chapters following this one I consider various forms of corruption in specific institutional settings. Here my concern is to articulate a theoretical understanding of the notion of institutional corruption. In doing so, I make use of my above-elaborated individualist, teleological account of social institutions.

VARIETIES OF INSTITUTIONAL CORRUPTION

The causes and effects of institutional corruption, and how to combat corruption, are issues that are increasingly on the national and international agendas of politicians and other policy makers. For example, the World Bank has relatively recently come around to the view that economic development is closely linked to corruption reduction (World Bank 1997). Again, the FBI is currently investigating numerous suspected financial crimes in the U.S. financial services sector in the wake of the current spate of corporate collapses and bailouts in the investment banking and insurance sector. By contrast, the concept of corruption has not received much attention (but see Part 1, “Terms, Concepts and Definitions,” of Heidenheimer and Johnston 2002).