Uruguay's Low Corruption Levels: A Search For Explanations

Uruguay‘s favourable position on the Corruption Index is one which has baffled many scholars in the region. While many attempt to explain Uruguay‘s success by looking at specific policies and programmes that have been implemented in the last two decades, this paper attempts to explain the low corruption levels by analysing the shift in the Uruguayan political structure. The long drawn out transformation, from a state riddled with clientelistic-networks towards a programmatic political spectrum, illustrates that the country has improved its levels of universalism and that the manner parties compete for votes has drastically changed. This paper argues that the shift towards programmatic politics is due to a number of events that took place after the Military Authoritarian-Regime. The dissatisfaction with the traditional parties, after the fall of the authoritarian state, allowed for the left-wing parties to surge. The increase in electoral strength of the left meant the introduction...Show moreUruguay‘s favourable position on the Corruption Index is one which has baffled many scholars in the region. While many attempt to explain Uruguay‘s success by looking at specific policies and programmes that have been implemented in the last two decades, this paper attempts to explain the low corruption levels by analysing the shift in the Uruguayan political structure. The long drawn out transformation, from a state riddled with clientelistic-networks towards a programmatic political spectrum, illustrates that the country has improved its levels of universalism and that the manner parties compete for votes has drastically changed. This paper argues that the shift towards programmatic politics is due to a number of events that took place after the Military Authoritarian-Regime. The dissatisfaction with the traditional parties, after the fall of the authoritarian state, allowed for the left-wing parties to surge. The increase in electoral strength of the left meant the introduction of a third actor within the political realm. This new actor broke the equilibrium of co-participation that the traditional parties had been experiencing for a prolonged time. The disruption of this equilibrium meant that the traditional parties now had to change the manner for competing for votes, from a clientelistic and particularistic manner towards a programmatic and universalistic approach. Nevertheless, institutional reforms together with the decentralization of power ensued in the 1990s further reducing corruption levels. We come to the conclusion that in order to grasp the success of Uruguay concerning its corruption levels, one has to look at the broader political shift, as the policy and programmes that have been implemented in the last two decades are nothing but a bi-product of said transformation.Show less

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Uruguay's Low Corruption Levels: A Search For Explanations