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From Corruption to State Capture: A New Analytical Framework with Empirical Applications from Hungary

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Repository DOI


Type

Article

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Authors

Fazekas, Mihaly 
Toth, Istvan Janos 

Abstract

State capture and corruption are widespread phenomena across the globe, but their empirical study still lacks sufficient analytical tools. This paper develops a new conceptual and analytical framework for gauging state capture based on microlevel contractual networks in public procurement. To this end, it establishes a novel measure of corruption risk in government contracting focusing on the behavior of individual organizations. Then, it identifies clusters of highcorruption-risk organizations in the full contractual network of procuring authorities and their suppliers using formal social network analysis. Densely connected clusters of high-corruption-risk organizations are denoted as the domain of state capture. The paper demonstrates the power of the new analytical framework by exploring how the radical centralization of the governing elite following the 2010 elections in Hungary affected centralization of state capture. Findings indicate the feasibility and usefulness of such microlevel approach to corruption and state capture. Better understanding the network structure of corruption and state capture opens new avenues for research and policy on anticorruption, budget deficit, market competition, and quality of democracy. Supporting further empirical studies of corruption, the data are made available at digiwhist.eu/resources/data

Description

Keywords

corruption, state capture, public procurement, Hungary, methodology

Journal Title

POLITICAL RESEARCH QUARTERLY

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1065-9129
1938-274X

Volume Title

69

Publisher

SAGE Publications
Sponsorship
The authors would like to express their gratitude for two EU funded projects at the Budapest Corvinus University (TAMOP 4.2.2.B and ANTICORRP (Grant agreement no: 290529)) even though they relied extensively on their voluntary contributions for realising this article.