The Politics of Corruption

Lecture 8: The United States: Patronage, Reform, and the Progressive Era

Bogdan G. Popescu
bgpopescu@tec.mx

Tecnológico de Monterrey

Today

How did a political system built around patronage, party machines, and privileged access become more professional and rule-bound?

By the end, students should be able to:

  • define systematic corruption (Wallis) and distinguish it from venal corruption
  • identify the political coalition behind U.S. civil-service reform and explain why reform took decades
  • draw one disciplined parallel between the Gilded Age United States and a contemporary middle-income democracy