Majority Rule, Minority Rights and Corruption

Abstract

In this work we set out to examine how the effective separation of powers in a political system, secures increased accountability and reduces the incentives of agents to try to corrupt officials. We summarize the main results of the existing literature that examines both these relationships and analyze a select number of constitutions, in an effort to find out to what extent some attributes of democracies lead both to decisions that do not offer incentives to seek corrupt practices and at the same time form an environment that is not favorable to the emergence of corruption.

Keywords: Minority rights, Majority rule, Corruption

JEL Classification: D02, D72, D73