Political Corruption

Political corruption is a term generally used to describe the abuse of political or public office for private gain. Some of the more common forms of corruption concern issues of access to legislators and members of the executive branch, as well as patronage. It has been argued that while corruption is widespread and often considered systemic in many political systems, it is generally only in liberal democracies that its exposure leads to what has become a mainstay of modern political media coverage: the political scandal.

Political communication scholars have been interested in corruption especially as it pertains to three different areas: the increased importance of money in politics in general and campaigns in particular as a reason for an apparent increase of corruption, the exposure of ...