The presence of widespread corruption in the political and administrative system became a major political issue in Italy during the 1990s, but a few years after the beginning of the mani pulite (“clean hands”) inquiries the question faded from the agenda of Italian politics. Using statistical and survey data, judicial and newspapers sources, the article shows that presumably political corruption is still systemic in Italy, and that its spread in the last decade can be explained by several institutional and cultural factors, including the failure of anti-corruption policies, the approval of some potentially corruption-enhancing measures, and the persistence of internal ‘governance structures’ of corrupt transactions. The legacy of mani pulite, therefore, has not been an improvement of public ethics, but an escalation of tensions been political powers and the judiciary, exacerbated by the involvement of the Prime Minister and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi in several inquiries for corruption crimes.

The Controversial Legacy of ‘Mani Pulite’: A Critical Analysis of Italian Corruption and Anti-Corruption Policies

VANNUCCI, ALBERTO
2009-01-01

Abstract

The presence of widespread corruption in the political and administrative system became a major political issue in Italy during the 1990s, but a few years after the beginning of the mani pulite (“clean hands”) inquiries the question faded from the agenda of Italian politics. Using statistical and survey data, judicial and newspapers sources, the article shows that presumably political corruption is still systemic in Italy, and that its spread in the last decade can be explained by several institutional and cultural factors, including the failure of anti-corruption policies, the approval of some potentially corruption-enhancing measures, and the persistence of internal ‘governance structures’ of corrupt transactions. The legacy of mani pulite, therefore, has not been an improvement of public ethics, but an escalation of tensions been political powers and the judiciary, exacerbated by the involvement of the Prime Minister and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi in several inquiries for corruption crimes.
2009
Vannucci, Alberto
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11568/132475
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact