Leiden University Student Repository

Jacobs, Daan (2020)

Explaining Political Corruption in Unlikely Places: The Case of Jos van Rey

Master thesis | Political Science (MSc)

Political corruption is a more or less universal phenomenon, but occurs much more frequently in some places than in others. This variation has been attributed to a range of factors on which countries perform either poorly or well. Yet, political corruption also occurs in countries that seem to perform well on most known indicators. As this has been an object of little scholarly attention, it remains largely unclear how we can explain the occurrence of political corruption in ‘unlikely places’; countries where such corruption is theoretically least likely to occur. This study explores the contours of an explanation by investigating a particular case in-depth: the case of Jos van Rey. The results suggest four potential explanations, that range from conceptual issues to the possibility that political corruption in unlikely places is to some extent unique, and driven by a distinct set of factors.

political corruption

Netherlands

case study

inductive

Author

Jacobs, Daan

Faculty

Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences

Supervisors

Zwart, F. de

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en