The Role Of Corruption In Athenian Democracy

Corruption is the misuse of public funds and authority; political corruption is defined as the “sale by government officials of government property for personal gain.” (Shleifer 1993) An example of this is the fees collected by government officials to allow an individual through customs without check or for an individual to pass a driving test without completing it. These were examples of political corruption at the lowest levels of government, corruption also exists in the upper houses of government, as well as the executive office. For example, high ranking officials can enrich themselves by taking advantage of their nation's natural resources such as petroleum and coal, as well as blocking either the legislation or business practices of
But as we know, Athenian democracy came to a bitter end due to incompetent leadership and rampant political corruption. This second experiment into democracy is no different, if we do not take care of it, if we do not ward of political corruption, modern democracy might come to an end as well. There are several factors that we can observe today leading to a degradation of democratic values and a rise in political corruption, for instance, we are seeing more and more political figures abusing their political powers for personal gains. “crime and power are inextricably linked phenomena in a variety of often contradictory ways [but] one of the key features and effects of power is the ability to operate beyond public scrutiny and thus accountability.” (Moran 2011) Political leaders are doing away with transparency and making deals behind the closed doors. Take former United States president Richard Nixon as an example of political corruption in a well-established and powerful democracy. On the 17th of June 1972, several burglars were arrested inside the office of the Democratic National Committee, through the investigation of the FBI, the true nature of the burglary was revealed. The arrested individuals were found to have been working for President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign, and were accused of attempting to steal documents belonging to democratic presidential nominees as well as wiretapping the offices and phones of government officials. While president Nixon could not be directly linked to the actions of the burglars, president Nixon was made to resign after allegations of a cover up and obstruction of justice. “The initial reaction of the White House and CREEP to the Watergate break-in, from Nixon and John Mitchell down through the organizational structure, launched the administration on a course to commit additional crimes to hide