ABSTRACT
Political corruption is universal: it occurs in all forms of political system, whether democratic or authoritarian; it occurs at all times and in all places. All men are not angels, as James Madison and Andrew Hamilton reminded us. Normally, though, at least a few people will engage in political participation to remedy corruption. Therefore, such participation is also a universal, occurring in different types of political systems and at all times and places. Combating corruption is thus a central aspect of participation as civic innovation. In such situations, scattered individuals, imbued with a sense of civic virtue, seek to remedy corrupt practices but lack established institutions for doing so—probably because the established political institutions are corrupt and thus are themselves the problem to be remedied. Citizens seeking the commonweal must then create strategies of political action and new political institutions to combat the corruption of public institutions.
