ABSTRACT
This chapter presents political science and outlines a tentative detente in the three areas. First, there will always be debates about what corruption is; therefore, it is better for a definitional line in the sand to be drawn. Second, corruption quantifiers and corruption typologists can work together. Corruption measures can be used in concert with deeper, qualitative research that attempts to further conceptualise, often at the micro level, specific types of corruption. Third, institutionalists can learn much from interest-based approaches. The chapter argues that corruption is often locked-in early on in the development of an institution. The concept of mitigation forms the basis of further academic analysis which suggests that seemingly corrupt acts can be mitigated by circumstances – such as official embezzling money to pay for hospital bills. The new scholarship in the area of public interest has argued that considerations of ‘real politics’ are important in identifying, defining and determining the form of political corruption.
