Systemic Corruption
A significant part of this research has focused on the analysis of corruption from a structural perspective.
Corruption and institutional architecture in advanced economies
A significant part of this research has focused on the analysis of corruption from a structural perspective.
In most international literature, corruption is commonly presented primarily as a problem associated with developing economies or weak institutional systems.
However, the analysis of contemporary institutional and economic structures suggests that corruption can also take systemic forms within advanced economies.
In such contexts, corruption does not always appear solely as individual illegal behaviour, but may operate through structural mechanisms that distort the functioning of economic, institutional and political systems.
According to international anti-corruption frameworks themselves, corruption can generate multiple consequences affecting the functioning of contemporary societies.
Among the most significant are:
- distortions in the allocation of public expenditure
- increases in public debt
- diversion of resources toward unproductive uses
- deterioration of institutional efficiency
- distortions in electoral processes
- deterioration in the quality of life of large segments of the population
- limitations in the effective protection of human rights
- weakening of incentives for innovation, investment and entrepreneurial activity.
When such processes persist over long periods, they may contribute to deep transformations in the cultural, economic, social and political structures of societies.
Normative gap between legal definitions and consequences of corruption
One of the central elements of this research is the existence of a structural gap within international anti-corruption frameworks themselves.
This gap appears at two levels.
First, international conventions clearly distinguish between:
1. legal definitions and criminal typifications of corrupt behaviour, which focus on specific individual actions such as bribery or abuse of office;
2. the consequences attributed to corruption, which international frameworks themselves describe as phenomena capable of affecting economic development, democratic institutions, political stability and human rights.
Second, this structural dimension is reinforced by estimates produced by international organizations, which attempt to quantify the economic and social impact of corruption worldwide.
The combination of narrowly defined criminal offences and widely recognized systemic consequences generates a normative asymmetry that may limit the capacity of current legal frameworks to address certain forms of systemic corruption.