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The group Political Analysis of the Faculty of Law of the University of Murcia paves the way in an investigation that seeks to find the guidelines for successfully fighting against political corruption in Spain and other countries based on three essential factors: a favorable critical situation, reforms Institutions that serve as leverage and, above all, a coalition of political and social forces to promote timely changes.
Earlier research shows that corruption is a process that generates some winners but negatively affects the development of society as a whole, not only in terms of economic growth, but also in the way in which that wealth is equitably distributed.
This team analyzes the requirements on which successful anti-corruption policies depend: three factors that rarely appear together, which explains the ongoing failures of these policies.
The first factor, the existence of a critical juncture, would be present in the Spanish case after the economic crisis.
In fact, some indicators give the impression that we are at a time that has cracked traditional political alignments.
One such indicator is concern about corruption, which has become the second public problem with an average of over 40% since 2012.
A second factor is that some institutional reforms, ie new laws (such as the Transparency Law 2013) or the strengthening of the independence and the means of some control bodies (courts, prosecutors, regulatory agencies, Etc.), even for cosmetic reasons, but that may be for those actors who drive the fight against corruption.
The last factor is the most important and also the most difficult to measure: the formation of a coalition of political and social forces convinced of the need to fight against corruption.
It is a question of a critical mass of citizens being aware that the time is right to change the rules of the political game in a definitive way and that they have the will to push for change.
"This is our main objective in the project, to know if this factor is present in the Spanish case" Only if the problems of collective action are overcome will it be possible to move forward in the control of corruption and in the reduction of social spaces in the Which governs particularism, "comments researcher Fernando Jimenez Sánchez.We also want to measure what game the reforms have done so far"
The first hypothesis that arises in the Spanish case is that for these measures to take effect they must be sufficiently credible, that is, that the citizens notice that the rules have changed.
As the UMU researcher explains, "many of these reforms have a cosmetic motivation, they are to get out of the way after the media scandals, but they are not convincing and people continue to operate with the same particularistic logic, they seek Solutions to your own problems or those of your most closed group, without worrying about looking for different solutions for which you do not have to cultivate the contacts.
"Traditionally, the two classical parties have turned their backs on the fight against corruption, although it was quite obvious that we had a problem, because their funding sources have always been irregular, so they have had no incentive to fight against it. Begins to change once the electoral behavior varies. When they see their situation in danger they decide to adapt, but how much of rhetoric and how much real change? "
Jiménez Sánchez tells us.
Throughout the project, financed by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness until 2019, a methodology will be followed that mixes diverse investigative techniques such as the analysis of press content, the study of judicial sentences for corruption offenses, interviews with leaders Political, business, trade union or members of anti-corruption associations.
It is about detecting how cases of corruption have been reflected and what discourses have been established on how to act, whether it is proposed to change some actors by others or, rather, the rules of the game altogether.
Different references, different times
During the 1960s, political scientist Samuel Huntington argued that corruption could be good in the process of transforming agrarian societies into an industrial society.
This corruption present in the backward communities served, according to the thesis of the grease of gears, like the oil on those mechanisms of government that do not work.
It allowed for a push, but in the long run does not favor sustainable development.
The project also compares the Italian case.
Its enormous political crisis after the fall of the wall, in the middle of the 90s, with Manos Limpias, Mani pulite, an anti-corruption operation that involved all the political groups of the moment.
This revolution of judges and prosecutors completely changed its political system.
The old parties disappeared, they appeared new, but the rules of the political game remained the same, however.
This shows that having a critical juncture opens opportunities, but it is not enough and does not mean that change is going to happen.
"We have thousands of examples where there have been major crises and have not taken advantage of to change rules of the game," he says.
According to the political scientist, during the last years the most successful cases in the control of corruption have been Uruguay and Chile.
In these countries there have been no major break with traditional patterns of political relations, but an accumulation of institutional reforms has led to some progress, but not enough.
There needs to be pressure from below, from the citizens.
The project 'Collective action and corruption in Spain: limits and possibilities of institutional reforms' is carried out in a multidisciplinary way with other universities such as Rey Juan Carlos University with Manuel Villoria and Jesús Palomo;
Joan Romero, Professor in Geography of the University of Valencia;
Anna Palau, a media specialist at the University of Barcelona, ​​Mónica García Quesada, from the Free University of Brussels, or Palmira Chavero, from FLACSO-Ecuador.
Source: Universidad de Murcia
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