ABSTRACT
The new generation of corruption research emerging in the 1990s has focused more on economic variables than upon the political. This chapter is a preliminary discussion of the ways good politics can help check corruption. It focuses on the relationship between political competition and levels of corruption. The chapter suggests that high-quality, well-institutionalized political competition can help to reduce levels of corruption. It provides the possible significance of political competition. A careful comparative analysis of the state and quality of party competition, based upon detailed case study and historical as well as contemporary evidence, will aid us in making those sorts of judgments. The chapter explains the connections among party systems, amounts and quality of political competition, and types and amounts of corruption. The extent and quality of political competition in various countries are part of a growing concern over the vitality of democracy.
