ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some issues of particular relevance for an analysis of the interaction between political parties and corruption. It looks at the hidden structures of the parties themselves. The chapter describes the changing role of the political parties in the situation of systemic corruption, focusing in particular on the function of political parties as "guarantors " of illegal exchanges and on the distortion in institutional policymaking that corruption brings about. It also looks at the development of "consociational" agreements between different political parties—mutual pacts of reciprocal protection against scandals. The chapter emphasizes the previous interpretations that have concentrated prevalently on the "visible" side of the party, neglecting what has taken place in the "hidden" party structure. The "genetic" transformations in the composition of the party were actively accelerated by the business politicians, who used their power precisely to distance the remaining militants.
