ABSTRACT
Across the region, rumours and reports about corruption among politicians and bureaucrats are a daily occurrence. The rise of corruption as an issue in Thai politics in the late 1980s was not simply the result of an increase in the incidence of corruption. The rise of democratic institutions including parliament, press, and public opinion have closed many of the simplest and most lucrative avenues of political corruption. The prevalence of bureaucratic corruption stems from the system of self-remuneration in the traditional bureaucracy. Public opinion remains far from clear or coherent on the issue of what is corruption. Many lower echelon groups are growing increasingly aware that they are the ones who bear the cost of such systems of corruption. As with the corruption study, The Asia Foundation agreed to support us, and this time the Thai Research Fund also offered its support while the Counter Corruption Commission agreed to support a related project.
