The Pursuit of Absolute Integrity: How Corruption Control Makes Government Ineffective

Anticorruption reforms provide excellent political cover for public officials, but do they really reduce corruption? And do the benefits outweigh the costs? Maynard-Knox Professor of Government Frank Anechiarico and James B. Jacobs are authors of the book, The Pursuit of Absolute Integrity, How Corruption Conrol Makes Government Ineffective.

The stated goal of the authors is to stimulate a new discourse about corruption and how to free public administration from burdensome corruption controls without sacrificing government integrity. Anechiarico and Jacobs show how proliferating regulations and oversight mechanisms designed to prevent or root out corruption seriously undermine our ability to govern effectively and efficiently.

The book explores in detail the “Anticorruption Project” in New York City. They claim that “This study of New York City shows that the mainstream anticorruption project imposes serious costs on public administration while failing to control corruption.”

 

Reviews

"Anechiarico and Jacobs . . . have pushed aside the claims and posturing by officials and reformers and revealed a critical need to reevaluate just what we have and are doing to public servants, and to the public, in the name of anti-corruption."--Citylaw

"A timely and very useful addition to the new debate over corruption and reform."--Michael Johnston, American Political Science Review