Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Corruption Scandals'

This research is about the coverage of corruption scandals in the Nigerian press. It is a comparative study that This research is about the coverage of corruption scandals in the Nigerian press. It is a comparative study that develops an intra-national framework for the study of the Nigerian media system using corruption scandals. The scandals studied are the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) scandal and the Former Governors Scandal. The study used both interviews and qualitative content analysis by means of critical discourse analysis. The results of the study suggest that the press in Nigeria is regionally and ethnically divided. These factors influence the way the press report issues including corruption scandals. The study also suggests that factors like clientelism, regionalism, corruption within the press, and lack of training are among the challenges faced by the Nigerian press. It is the position of this study that the press in Nigeria is active in reporting stories about corruption scandals, but has not done enough when it comes to the application of such aspects of journalistic practice like investigative journalism which contributes in the watchdog role of the media. The study concludes by suggesting areas for further research.

This article analyzes the role of political scandals at different times of the government’sactivity, with the intention to verify if news of corruption differs in electoral and non-electoral periods. We try to verify in what contexts Argentinean and Brazilian governments are more permeable to political scandals and respond more actively. We consider the electoral schedule and the type of Presidentialism in Argentina and Brazil. We argue that after an accusation of corruption in media, public officials assess risks in order to consider if their reputation were erode by not facing scandals of corruption. During electoral periods politicians fear of punishment from voters through mechanisms of electoral accountability. Finally we say that the majority Presidentialism is less permeable to allegations that coalition one. To corroborate these hypotheses we investigate responses of governments in Argentina (as a case of majoritarian Presidentialism),and in Brazil (as a case of coalitional Presidentialism).
Este artículo se propone analizar el papel de los escándalos políticos en diferentes momentos de actividad de un gobierno, con la intención de verificar si existen variaciones en los niveles de denuncias de corrupción entre los períodos electorales y los no eleccionarios. Asimis- mo, se intenta verificar en qué contextos los gobiernos de Argentina y Brasil son más permeables a las denuncias mediáticas y responden más activamente. Para ello, consideramos el calendario electoral y el tipo de presidencialismo de cada país. Se argumenta que, tras una acusación de corrupción en los medios, los funcionarios públicos evalúan los riesgos de ver sus reputaciones erosionadas por no enfrentar la denuncia. El costo para contrarrestar la opinión pública tiende a ser mayor en los períodos electorales, ya que el temor al castigo de los votantes mediante mecanismos de accountability electoral también aumenta. Finalmente, afirmamos que el presidencialismo mayoritario resulta menos permeable a las denuncias que uno de coalición. Para corroborar estas hipótesis se investigan las respuestas de los gobiernos en Argentina, como caso de presidencialismo mayoritario, y en Brasil, como caso de presidencialismo de coalición.

Submitted by Caroline Falcao (caroline.rfalcao@ufpe.br) on 2017-05-08T18:55:42Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissertação Cletiane Medeiros Araújo.pdf: 817504 bytes, checksum: 9e547ad8c99e10e02475f50d56ce9e0a (MD5)
Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-08T18:55:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissertação Cletiane Medeiros Araújo.pdf: 817504 bytes, checksum: 9e547ad8c99e10e02475f50d56ce9e0a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012
Em que medida os escândalos de corrupção impactam na probabilidade de responsabilização dos agentes públicos denunciados? Mobilizando a literatura sobre accountability democrática e relação Executivo-Legislativo, este estudo tem como objetivo analisar quais são os determinantes para a onda de demissão de parte dos ministros do Governo Dilma Roussef ao longo dos dezessetes primeiros meses de mandato. Para isto, foram selecionadas 677 notícias de três jornais de larga circulação nacional, a saber: Folha de S.Paulo; O Estado de S. Paulo; e O Globo. Este trabalho argumenta que a maior intensidade de notícias sobre denúncias de corrupção envolvendo ministros do governo impacta positivamente na probabilidade da saída do agente público da pasta ministerial, destacando assim o papel da mídia no processo de prestação de contas. Quanto às questões que enfocam o processo de negociação de decisões pelos agentes dos Poderes Executivo-Legislativo argumenta-se que o maior número de cadeiras na Câmara dos Deputados pertencentes ao partido do ministro denunciado impacta positivamente na probabilidade de sua saída, caracterizando o comportamento de puxar o tapete em meio a um ambiente de recursos limitados e horizonte temporal curto. Por fim, o fato de o ministro denunciado ser de um partido ideologicamente distante em relação ao partido do presidente lhe confere maior instabilidade no cargo, em outros termos, haveria uma menor tolerância por parte da chefia do Executivo para com os ministros denunciados em escândalos de corrupção quando estes forem membros de partidos mais distantes ideologicamente em relação ao PT.
To what extent corruption scandals impacting the likelihood of accountability of public officials denounced? Mobilizing the literature on democratic accountability and Executive-Legislative relations, this study aims to examine what are the determinants for the wave of resignation from the ministers of the government Dilma Rousseff over the seventeen first months in office. For this, we selected 677 reports of three newspapers of wide national circulation, namely: Folha de S. Paulo, Estado de S. Paulo and O Globo. This paper argues that the greater intensity of news about corruption allegations involving government ministers have a positive impact on the probability of exit from the public official ministerial portfolio, thus underscoring the role of media in the process of accountability. The questions that focus on the process of negotiation of decisions by agents of the Executive-Legislative argued that the largest number of seats in the House of Representatives belonging to the party of the minister denounced a positive impact on the probability of its output, characterizing the behavior of pulling carpet amid an environment of limited resources and short time horizon. Finally, the fact that the minister denounced be a party ideologically distant relative to the president's party gives greater instability in the job, in other words, there would be less tolerance by the chief of Executive to the ministers reported on scandals corruption when they are members of parties more ideologically distant relative to PT.

Dans cette recherche, nous avons étudié le processus de constitution symbolique du « Mensalão », l’un des plus importants événements de l’histoire politique récente du Brésil, qui a eu lieu en 2005 et montre l’implication de membres du Parti des Travailleurs et du gouvernement Lula dans des dénonciations liées à la corrption, avec une grande répercussion, dans le pays, auprès du public et des médias. Nous avons plus particulièrement cherché à identifier la façon selon laquelle le « Mensalão » est individualisé, prenant ainsi une signification et une identité en tant qu’événement singulier. Nous sommes partis de l’approche de l’événemnt proposée par Louis Quéré (1997; 2005). Nous en avons retiré la grille analytique afin d’étudier le processus d’individualisation du « Mensalão », qui a été appliquée sur un corpus de 1269 textes journalistiques. Nous avons analysé : 1) la description, qui révèle la dispute entre les acteurs par la définition et le cadrage de l’événement ; 2) le récit, qui montre les principaux protagonistes et les différents passés et futurs convoqués pour l’événement ; 3) la dimension pragmatique, avec les actions constituantes de cet événement; 4) la commercialisation du soutien politique et la pratique de fonds secrets électoraux comme principaux problèmes publics exposés, la façon selon laquelle ils sont traités et comment les cadrages conditionnent le traitement du problème; et 5) la normalisation de l’événement à travers la mise en cause de certains des impliqués dans les dénonciations. La radiographie de la mis en récit et de la normalisation de l’événement montre comment les problèmes publics révélés ont été dilués dans la personnalisation du problème de la corruption
In this research we analyze the process of symbolic constitution of “Mensalão” (a scandal of corruption of members of the Congress by the main governmental party), one of the most important occurrences of the recent political history of Brazil, which happened in 2005. We try to identify, more specifically, the way it is individualized by getting a meaning and an identity as a singular event. We get support in the approach of the event proposed by Louis Quéré (1997; 2005) and take from it the analytical tools to study the “Mensalão”: the description, the narration, the pragmatic dimension, the public issues exposed, and the normalization of the event. We apply this analytical framework over a cluster of 1,269 journalistic texts, which were selected from the covering made by the Folha de São Paulo newspaper between June and December of 2005. Through a qualitative analysis of the written material, we identify and analyze the process of individualization of the “Mensalão”: 1) the description, which reveals, among other aspects, the dispute between the actors for the framing of the happening; 2) the narration, which indicates the main protagonists and shows the different pasts and futures called by this happening; 3) the pragmatic dimension, with all the actions that constitute this type of occurrence; 4) the trade of political support and the practice of unofficial financial support for elections as the main public issues exposed, the way they are treated by the actors and the way the mobilized framings guides the treatment of the issue; and 5) the normalization of the happening through “punishment” of some of those who are accused. The enlightening of the construction of the narrative and of the normalization of the occurrence show how the public issues were diluted in the personification of the problem of corruption

Cette these prend pour objet les activites des magistrats dans les scandales politiques en france depuis 1991. Une partie preliminaire est destinee a circonscrire precisement ce dont ces pratiques, qui sont vecues par les protagonistes comme largement inedites, sont faites. La premiere partie de cette these s'interroge sur les ressorts de pratiques percues comme risquees par les interesses, et sur la valeur explicative d'une analyse en termes de dispositions a l'action. Elle conduit a la mise a l'ecart d'une explication par la frustration sociale ou politique des magistrats, a laquelle on gagne a substituer une attention aux effets de la distance croissante qui s'instaure entre deux univers, politique et judiciaire, qui n'ont progressivement plus rien de commun. Pour comprendre pourquoi certains juges seulement s'engagent, a un moment donne, dans les mobilisations constitutives des scandales, il faut encore reconstruire l'enchainement des echanges de coups qui aboutit a la transformation du faisable et du probable aux yeux des juges et a leur investissement croissant dans l'action. Se repete et se consolide ainsi une dynamique qui porte en elle-meme le principe de sa propre perpetuation, et pourtant dont le resultat n'etait nullement joue a l'avance, ce qu'on nomme un processus d'autoconsolidation. La deuxieme partie apprehende les logiques individuelles de l'action. On s'interesse non seulement au travail des juges pour mobiliser localement des allies mais aussi aux effets de concordance observables entre les activites, diversement produites, de plusieurs types d'acteurs. On explore ensuite la tendance a la consolidation de certains etats de jeu, a la faveur de laquelle les magistrats font l'experience de la transformation de leur "grandeur" sociale et professionnelle. La troisieme partie examine certains des effets majeurs attaches, pour les espaces judiciaire et politique, aux pratiques etudiees. On soutient que des phenomenes d'autonomisation de l'univers judiciaire sont ici a l'oeuvre, et que les "bonnes formes" de l'action politique se trouvent dans ce contexte egalement partiellement redefinies. Enfin, on s'interesse a la maniere dont du droit emerge a la faveur des scandales, en apprehendant cette production de regles avant tout comme l'effet secondaire d'activites tournees vers d'autres enjeux.

Cette thèse a pour objet l'étude de Tangentopoli, la concaténation de scandales qui, entre 1992 et 1994, a transformé le jeu politique italien. A l'encontre des approches qui ont focalisé l'attention sur la corruption et expliqué la crise politique par l'anomalie du «cas italien», nous avons centré l'analyse sur les mobilisations multisectorielles constitutives de ces scandales. Nous avons plus précisément étudié comment les relations entre des magistrats, des politiciens, des entrepreneurs et des journalistes ont reconfiguré ces espaces sociaux respectifs. En reconstituant les conditions d'émergence des scandales, nous avons mis l'accent sur les cooccurrences et la contingence à l'origine de « l'opération Mains Propres ». La concomitance de fortes oscillations des perceptions du possible au sein des secteurs politique, journalistique, judiciaire et patronal a participé d'une dynamique de crise. Sous le coup des scandales en série, des réseaux de pouvoir consolidés se sont effondrés et de nombreux leaders politiques ont été en proie à la délégitimation. L'extension des scandales a actualisé un processus de désectorisation tendancielle de l'espace social et particulièrement affecté un jeu politique marqué par la mobilité des enjeux. Dans cette perspective, la reconfiguration du jeu politique peut être comprise comme l'un des principaux effets émergents de Tangentopoli
The purpose of this Ph. D. Is to study the Tangentopoli, i. E. The series of scandals which, between 1992 and 1994, transformed the Italian political landscape. Unlike other studies which focused on bribery and which explained this political crisis by the oddity of the "Italian case," we have centered our study on the comportent multisectorial mobilizations of these scandals. We studied more specifically the way relationships between judges, politicians, entrepreneurs and journalists have reconfigured their respective social spheres. By reconstituting the conditions in which these scandals appeared, we emphasized the role of coôcurrences and of contingency at the start of the "Clean Hands Operation. " The concomitance of large variations in the perception of what one is permitted to do within the political, journalistic, judicial and employers' sectors contributed to the crisis' dynamic. Caught up in a series of scandals, power networks collapsed, and many political leaders found themselves deligitimized. The extension of the scandals showed a process of tendential desectorialisation of the social sphere and affected particularly the political interplay characterized by changing political goals. From this perspective, the reconfiguration of the political interplay can be comprehended as one of the emerging effects of Tangentopoli

Cette thèse porte sur l'étude d'un réseau composé d'élus du Vaucluse de 1870 à 1898, autour de la figure d'Alfred Naquet et de ses amis politiques. On s'attachera à montrer comment ce réseau s'est peu à peu constitué et implanté à partir de 1870 grâce aux victoires électorales, et structuré par des fidélités personnelles, des échanges d'influence, et l'utilisation d'un vocabulaire de l'amitié. Cela avant d'être progressivement détruit et écarté de la scène politique locale durant les années 1888 à 1897, remis en cause par l'engagement d'une partie de ses membres dans le boulangisme, puis par leur implication dans le scandale de Panama. Au travers de l'étude de ce réseau, on cherche à appréhender les relations de clientèle et de fidélité entre ces élus du Vaucluse, leur relais locaux et de simples citoyens, dans la cadre de la politique des patronages, grâce à l'étude de la correspondance de ces élus et des fonds publics. Le deuxième évènement qui cause la fin du réseau Naquet est le scandale de Panama, plus précisément "l'affaire Arton". Accusés d'avoir reçu de l'argent pour leur vote lors d'une loi favorable à la compagnie universelle du canal interocéanique du Panama, certains membres du réseau sont poursuivis en justice. Par ailleurs, le scandale révèle des liens entre les puissances de l'argent et le monde politique, notamment au travers de la société centrale de la dynamite, et pose la question de l'existence d'un groupe de pression composé d'hommes politiques et d'hommes d'affaires à la chambre. De la même manière, les stratégies de défense des élus face à l'accusation de corruption, les déviances et les débats normatifs autour de cette thématique seront étudiées en ce qui concerne ce réseau
This thesis deals with the study of a network composed with MPs of Vaucluse from 1870 to 1898, gathered around Alfred Naquet and his political friends.We will try to show how this network works, how it was built and got rooted from 1870 thanks to electoral victories, then structured by personal loyalties, exchanges of influence and the use of friendship vocabulary.This was before it got progressively destroyed and isolated from the local political scene from 1888 to 1898, questionned first by the engagement from one part of its membersin the boulangisme, then by their implication in the Panama scandal. Throught the study of this network, we search to apprehend the relation of clientelism and loyalty between the MPs of Vaucluse, their local relay and simple citizens. The second event that caused the end of Naquet's network is the Panama scandal, more precisely the "Arton Affaire". Being accused of receiving money for their vote when a law in favour of the Panama company is voted,some members of the network are being prosecuted. The scandal also reveals links between businessmen and political men, especially throw the société centrale de la dynamite, created by Alfred Nobel, and raise the question of the existence of a group of pressure composed by politcal and business men. In the same way, the defence strategies of the electives facing corruption accusation, the deviances and normative debates around this theme will be studied regarding this network

Au cours des dernières décennies, la corruption a suscité l'intérêt des analystes et des observateurs les plus divers. Elle est même devenue un thème à part entière dans le cadre de certaines disciplines, telles que l'économie, le droit, la science politique, la sociologie, l'anthropologie et l'histoire. Plus récemment, au carrefour de ces diverses disciplines, des spécialistes en matière de corruption ont commencé à apparaître, sorte d’authentiques «corruptologues ». Cette thèse présente une analyse de la corruption en tant que problème public. L'analyse repose sur une première distinction importante : travailler sur la corruption en tant que phénomène et l'examiner en tant que problème public constituent deux choses différentes. Dans le premier cas, l’attention est centrée sur l'explication d'un phénomène déterminé dont l'existence est postulée comme donnée, alors que, dans le second cas, l'attention est portée sur les pratiques et les discours qui conduisent à la configuration d'une situation déterminée comme problématique. La principale hypothèse qui guide ce travail entend dissocier la compréhension des processus de constitution d’un problème public et les transformations du phénomène que ces processus contribuent à définir et à caractériser. De ce point de vue, une recrudescence de la corruption en tant que phénomène n'est pas la condition sine qua non pour que la corruption se constitue en problème. Ce qui nous intéresse principalement, c'est de montrer qu'il s'agit de deux regards et de deux analyses indépendantes et que le fait de les croiser ou de les superposer conduit souvent à des erreurs et à des confusions majeures. La corruption en tant que thème ayant suscité un grand intérêt, des débats et une production intellectuelle au cours de ces dernières décennies, et en tant que phénomène de plus en plus étudié, évalué et analysé est une question particulièrement intéressante pour tenter de montrer quelles sont les particularités d'une sociologie des problèmes publics
During the last decades, the corruption aroused the interest of the analysts and the most diverse observers. It even became a full theme within the framework of certain disciplines, such as the economy, law, political science, sociology, anthropology and history. More recently, in the crossroads of these diverse disciplines, specialists in corruption began to appear, goes out of authentic corruptologues. This thesis 'presents an analysis of the corruption as public problem. The analysis is based on a first important distinction: work on the corruption as phenomenon and to examine il as public problem constitute two different kind of studies. In the first case, the attention is centered on the explanation of a definite phenomenon the existence of which is postulated as given, while, in the second case, the attention is concerned to the practices and speeches which lead to the configuration of a condition determined as problematic. The main hypothesis which guides this work intends to separate the understanding of the processes of constitution of a public problem and the transformations of the phenomenon which these processes contribute to define and to characterize. From this point of view, an outbreak of the corruption as phenomenon is not the indispensable condition so that the corruption constitutes a problem. What interests us mainly, it is to show that it is about two glances and about two independent analyses and that the fact of crossing them or of stacking them conduit often in errors and in major confusions. The corruption is a particularly interesting issue to try to show what the peculiarities of the sociology of public problems are

Lorsqu'on écrit sur les scandales dans les années 1990, on ne peut faire abstraction d'un contexte politique particulièrement lourd en affaires. Cette réflexion sociologique développée sous les deux septennats de François Mitterrand affronte donc un matériau très vaste. L'abondance d'affaires en tout genre impressionne : Greenpeace, Luchaire, Péchiney, la Société générale, les Irlandais de Vincennes, Carrefour du Développement, le vrai-¬faux passeport d'Yves Chalier, Urba Gracco liée au financement du PS et ses nombreuses ramifications, le sang contaminé, le Prêt (Pelat-Bérégovoy), le suicide de François de Grossouvre, les écoutes téléphoniques et la cellule anti-terroriste de l'Elysée etc. , la liste est loin de prétendre à l'exhaustivité. Le rapport de forces politiques traversait alors une conjoncture complexe entrecoupée notamment de deux périodes de cohabitation (1986-1988, puis 1993-1995) qui ne seront d'ailleurs pas sans lien avec la visibilité des scandales. La liste s'allongeait au fil des mois, en associant, il est vrai, des affaires aux postérités et aux conséquences politiques bien diversifiées. Ces événements ne sont toutefois pas à l’origine de cette recherche puisque l’idée de réfléchir à la place spécifique que les scandales peuvent occuper dans la théorie politique leur est antérieure. Une actualité politique très riche a cependant jalonné cette étude et permis ainsi de confronter "à chaud" certaines de nos hypothèses avec une réalité saisie sur le vif. L'analyste se touve alors en prise directe avec la façon dont les faits sont perçus et rapportés par les médias et les observateurs politiques. Comment ont-ils pu s'enflammer pour des faits qui lui paraissent a posteriori bien anodins? Par souci méthodologique et s'imposant ainsi cette obligation de distanciation qui garantit l'objectivité de leur recherche, les historiens que les scandales politiques intéressent, se tournent en majeure partie vers ceux de la IIIe République, avec il faut le souligner, une place de choix pour le scandale de Panama et surtout, l'Affaire Dreyfus. Or cette garantie qu'apporte le délai historique se révèle être aussi un handicap puisque le chercheur se trouve forcément coupé de l'ambiance "émotionnelle" qui fait partie intégrante de ce type d'événement. Cet éloignement diminue donc la dimension d'épisodes que le temps aura inévitablement affaidis.

Cette recherche qualitative examine le processus d’enquête publique de la Commission d’enquête sur l’octroi et la gestion des contrats publics dans l’industrie de la construction1 au Québec. Le principal objectif est de comprendre comment la CEIC construit, pendant ce processus d’enquête, le rôle des agents économiques dans le scandale de corruption et de collusion dans la Ville de Montréal. Notre cadre théorique s’inscrit dans le constructivisme modéré et part de l’idée que les individus appréhendent la réalité sociale et la construisent à partir des représentations et significations qu’ils apprennent et développent lors de la socialisation et des expériences quotidiennes. Leurs activités sont déterminées par ce rapport qu’ils entretiennent avec le monde et par les rapports de pouvoirs entre les individus et groupes sociaux. Les divers documents utilisés ou produits pour et par la commission ont été soumis à une analyse critique du discours. Nous cherchions à comprendre comment par l’utilisation du langage, et à partir de ce qui est dit ou non dans les documents produits par la CEIC, le rôle des entreprises est construit en défendant les intérêts de certains acteurs au détriment des autres. Notre analyse a mis en évidence que les conclusions de la CEIC correspondent à la réponse que le gouvernement lui suggère, de manière assez discrète, dans le mandat. Le rôle des compagnies a été construit à l’aide de trois stratégies adoptées tout au long des travaux. La CEIC réoriente son mandat en définissant les termes après avoir complété l’enquête, en changeant l’ordre des volets et l’objet de son enquête. Ainsi, son enquête porte sur l’obtention des contrats publics et non sur leur octroi : les compagnies sont les principaux acteurs du scandale. Elle décriminalise2 certains comportements et utilise le bouc émissaire fourni dans le mandat, à savoir le crime organisé, pour blanchir les cols blancs et surtout les fonctionnaires et hommes politiques le plus haut placés. Pour y parvenir, elle doit cependant contredire ses propres définitions des termes du mandat. La peur collective envers la violence et la perception de la mafia par les citoyens ont facilité cette décriminalisation sélective des comportements. Finalement, les compagnies sont présentées comme ayant été contaminées par l’infiltration du crime organisé dans l’industrie et cette contamination, ces compagnies l’ont transmise à quelques fonctionnaires. Nous sommes arrivés à la conclusion que le rôle des entreprises n’a pas été construit en partant de l’interprétation du mandat, comme le suggère notre question de recherche, mais de manière à calquer les conclusions qui y étaient suggérées : les crimes en col blanc s’expliquent par l’infiltration de la mafia dans l’industrie. En procédant ainsi, la CEIC a contribué à la sauvegarde et au renforcement du statu quo.

Dans le Québec d’après-guerre, les préoccupations morales des opposants au gouvernement de l’Union nationale se cristallisent autour de deux dénonciations virulentes de la corruption politique : celle des mœurs électorales et celle des gouvernants. En 1960, la moralité politique est un enjeu électoral d’importance. Le Parti libéral est élu en promettant de réformer la vie politique. La « guerre au patronage » menée par le gouvernement passe par la condamnation des méthodes administratives utilisées par l’Union nationale. Entre 1956 et 1963, l’opinion publique, puis le gouvernement confèrent une importance grandissante à la responsabilisation des comportements et à la valorisation de la politique. Au fil des débats soulevés, nous voulons étudier les motivations des intervenants et leurs discours tels que rapportés dans la presse. Il en résulte la rencontre de deux visions de la vie dans la Cité, entre un idéal de vertu et la réalité effective de la politique partisane.

In the last two decades, corruption has become a key concern throughout the world. Most of what we know about corruption comes from instances in which misdeeds become public, usually generating a scandal. Why do some acts of corruption become corruption scandals and others do not? This dissertation argues that scandals are not triggered by corruption per se, but are initially caused by the dynamics of political competition within the government. Government insiders leak information on misdeeds in order to increase their influence within the coalition/party in power. A powerful opposition, contrary to common beliefs, acts as a constraint for insiders, making corruption scandals less likely. In order to advance this central argument, this dissertation divides the temporal development of corruption scandals into four stages and proposes a formal model that analyzes the interactions of government insiders and the political opposition. The arguments and hypotheses generated are then evaluated using empirical evidence from two paradigmatic Latin American cases, Argentina and Chile, from 1989 to 2010. The findings support the notion that corruption scandals emerge as a consequence of political competition.
text

Corruption scandals involving the president or other members of the executive branch have long been used as a control or independent variable in studies on Latin American presidentialism. This research seeks to contribute to the literature by treating executive scandals as the dependent variable, using the Workers’ Party governments in Brazil (2003-2016) as a case study. First, a number of independent interval variables that potentially affect the dependent variable are tested using regression analysis, and then, independent categorical variables are identified and causal mechanisms connecting the independent interval and categorical variables to executive scandal emergence are uncovered, making use of "Y-centered theory-building process tracing" and data from interviews with media professionals and an ex-Supreme Court judge. Four different potential causal mechanisms connecting a total of up to five different independent variables to executive scandal emergence are identified, providing a point of departure for future research on the topic. This study contributes to the Latin American presidentialism literature by providing insight into the causes of executive corruption scandals, a previously overlooked topic.
Escândalos de corrupção que envolvem o presidente ou outros membros do Poder Executivo têm, durante muito tempo, sido usados como variável independente ou de controle em estudos sobre presidencialismo latino-americano. Esta investigação busca contribuir para esta literatura através do uso como variável dependente de escândalos que envolvem o poder executivo, usando como estudo de caso os governos do Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) no Brasil (2003-2016). Primeiro, algumas variáveis independentes intervalares que podem afetar a variável dependente acima indicada são testadas usando regressão, e depois, variáveis independentes categóricas são identificadas e mecanismos causais que conectam as variáveis independentes intervalares e categóricas com a emergência de escândalos envolvendo o poder executivo são desveladas, usando "Y-centered theory-building process tracing" e entrevistas com profissionais de média e um ex-ministro do Supremo Tribunal Federal. Foram identificados quatro potenciais mecanismos causais que conectam um total de até cinco variáveis independentes com a emergência de escândalos envolvendo o poder executivo, assim fornecendo um ponto de partida para investigação futura do tema. Esta investigação contribui para a literatura sobre presidencialismo latino-americano ao fornecer novo conhecimento sobre as causas de escândalos de corrupção envolvendo o poder executivo, um assunto anteriormente desconsiderado.

In this dissertation, I take a new approach to presidential scandal, which is frequently attributed to evidence of misbehavior. I argue instead that scandal is a socially constructed perception of misbehavior which opposition elites help create. I formalize this argument by developing a model of presidential scandal, which predicts that allegations of scandal by opposition legislators can influence the occurrence of scandal within some intermediate range of allegation scandalousness and credibility. I derive two comparative statics showing that the incidence of scandal should increase as the transaction costs of allegations decrease and as the critical mass of opposition legislators required to create a scandal decreases.

I then test the predictions of the model using monthly data from elite news reports for 1977–2006. I operationalized the critical mass comparative static using presidential approval among opposition party identifiers—a useful index of a polarized political climate. I find that the president is more vulnerable to the onset of scandal when his levels of opposition approval are relatively low. Conversely, when the president is relatively popular with opposition identifiers (during “honeymoons,” foreign policy crises, and wars), scandals occur much less frequently. In addition, scandals appear to have become more common over time, which could be the result of increased party polarization. Finally, I show that the underlying hazard of scandal was greater for second-term presidents than for first-term presidents.

Clearly, however, scandals vary widely in their size and significance. As such, I also create a dependent variable measuring the total quarterly volume of presidential scandal coverage in the Washington Post, which should capture the aggregate severity of scandals in a given time period. I show that lagged presidential approval among opposition identifiers is negatively associated with this measure. By contrast, more scandal coverage is published during presidents' second term in office and during election years.

Journalists and scholars frequently assert that divided government leads to a greater incidence of presidential scandal, but little systematic evidence exists to support these claims. An investigation reveals that divided government suffers from several important inferential problems, including a lack of comparable counterfactual data.. After addressing these issues, I estimate treatment effects for divided government and opposition control of Congress on both high-profile investigations of the president and scandal coverage, but none reach conventional levels of statistical significance.

Next, I explore the factors predicting when individual members of Congress will make scandal allegations against the president and the executive branch. Specifically, I test hypotheses developed from my formal model on a new dataset of scandal allegations against the president in the Congressional Record between 1985 and 2006. Results from multilevel event count models indicate that scandal allegations decline as state- and district-level presidential vote increases among members of the opposition party in both the House and the Senate. Members of the Senate are also more likely to make allegations as they gain seniority within the chamber. Finally, members who are up for re-election in the Senate make fewer allegations than those who are not.

Finally, I analyze the allegation data as a series of social networks. I present a new approach to analyze clustering in these data, which helps us to characterize patterns in allegations and member behavior. My analysis indicates that clustering among members—which suggests a convergence in scandal targets—is positively associated with increased scandal coverage at the Congress level. By contrast, I find that highly clustered allegations (i.e. those made by members who also made other allegations together) tend to receive less coverage than those that attract support from a broader coalition of members who would otherwise not be connected.

Dissertation

Neste trabalho, estudar-se-á o papel da mídia na veiculação de notícias e a forma como as coberturas jornalísticas influenciam a opinião pública. Observar-se-á o escândalo político como um evento midiático que aparece cada vez mais nos veículos de comunicação. Com o objetivo de analisar de que maneira são realizadas as coberturas jornalísticas destes fatos, serão estudadas as reportagens da revista Veja dos meses de julho e agosto de 2011, que tratam dos esquemas de corrupção revelados no Ministério dos Transportes e da Agricultura. A visão de John B. Thompson, sobre a má conduta em cargos governamentais, constitui a base teórica deste estudo de caso. Durante a análise, faz-se menção ao nome de todos os envolvidos nas práticas ilícitas dentro dos dois órgãos estudados.
This work will study the role of the media in the dissemination of news,as well as the influence of the news in the public opinion. Political scandal will be observed as a media event that appears increasingly in the newspapers. In order to analyze how the media expose these events, the reports of Veja magazine will be analysed, between july and august of 2011, dealing with corruption schemes revealed inside the Ministry of Transport and Agriculture. The sight of John B. Thompson on misconduct in government positions is the theoretical basis of this case study. During the analysis, it is mentioned the names of all those involved in illegal practices within the two organs studied.

The war against Germany was perceived by the majority of English Canadians as a necessity to defend the British Empire, democracy and justice. However, it became increasingly evident to the public that some individuals were being permitted to prosper, while others — particularly those of the working class — endured immense hardship. These individuals who prospered at a level judged excessive became known as "profiteers." Initial criticisms of profiteering were connected to graft, jobbery and patronage apparent in government military purchases. However, as public sacrifices intensified, the morally acceptable extent to which individuals and businesses could profit came to be more narrowly defined. Criticisms of profiteering expanded to challenge the mainstream liberal notions of private wealth and laissez-faire policies as being inequitable and undemocratic. The federal government's unwillingness to seriously implement measures against profiteering led to rising discontent. Consequently, working-class English Canadians aspired to form a 'new democracy' that was worth the sacrifices of the war.
Thesis (Master, History) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-19 19:02:13.077

Tese de doutoramento em Ciências da Comunicação, no ramo de Estudos do Jornalismo, apresentada ao Departamento de Filosofia, Comunicação e Informação da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra
O escândalo político é um fenómeno mediático que incide sobre alegadas transgressões de normas ou valores morais, cometidas por sujeitos políticos, podendo estas causar danos à sua reputação e inviabilizar as suas pretensões de poder. O enfoque colocado no campo dos media deve-se à prevalência do papel central da comunicação social nas sociedades contemporâneas e da visibilidade que esta concede aos escândalos, transferindo, da esfera estritamente privada para a esfera amplamente pública, o conhecimento de alegadas ocorrências. Tendo por base que os media concedem à sociedade perceções sobre temas e acontecimentos, influindo sobre a inteleção dos cidadãos acerca do que se passa no mundo, analisamos neste trabalho a cobertura jornalística do escândalo político, pretendendo não apenas compreender o fenómeno como também o papel dos seus intervenientes. Para tal, enquanto questão central de pesquisa, procuramos cotejar quais os padrões de cobertura jornalística a partir das peças extraídas de quatro jornais semanários generalistas de expansão nacional que compõem o corpus de análise – Expresso, O Jornal, O Independente e Sol –, ao longo do período democrático, entre 25 de abril de 1974 e 25 de abril de 2014. Outras questões, que constituem perguntas centrais deste trabalho, e que, por isso, residem igualmente no âmago do nosso interesse, são desdobradas em hipóteses apresentadas nesta dissertação. Entre elas, a de saber em que sentido tem evoluído a cobertura jornalística do fenómeno em Portugal e se os media tendem a focar-se na trama de espetáculo que envolve os casos, se o contexto cultural em que uma ação ocorre ajuda a definir se o caso é escandaloso, que peso tem a cobertura da corrupção no escândalo político, se podemos inferir que um escândalo de grande dimensão faz desviar o foco mediático de outro que esteja já a decorrer, e se há maior incidência mediática em determinados períodos, como os eleitorais e os de crise económica e financeira. Ao coligirmos nos jornais os vários escândalos políticos, constituímos um compêndio dos casos, tendo em conta a sua presença nos media. Esse levantamento decorre da necessidade de percorrer um caminho que estava ainda por mondar e que, de alguma forma, irá contribuir para tornar mais clara a relação entre os media, os políticos e o público, sem descurar algumas áreas da justiça, dando especial ênfase ao tema da corrupção política. A partir das tipologias mais frequentes de escândalo político – poder, financeiro e sexual –, definidas pelo sociólogo John B. Thompson, que seguimos com particular interesse, apresentamos uma nova proposta de classificação, assente na constatação de que as originalmente estabelecidas não cobrem uma significativa percentagem dos casos sucedidos em Portugal. Nesse sentido, propomos a adição de uma nova tipologia, denominada escândalo político de conduta. O seguimento dos 99 casos que a pesquisa permitiu apurar reforçou a necessidade da sua mensuração, com o objetivo de aferirmos um grau concreto de intensidade, avaliando o seu impacto mediático. Nesse sentido, fundamentámos a nossa opção de criação da Escala de Intensidade Mediática para a comparação da magnitude que os casos propagam, com o propósito de melhor os distinguirmos, conjugando múltiplas variáveis presentes nas peças jornalísticas, bem como outros dados inerentes à análise dos media, relacionando-as através de um algoritmo concebido para o efeito, facultando à análise de conteúdos um maior grau de objetividade e de impessoalização. Longe de ser um fait divers, o escândalo político incide sobre a ação dos protagonistas políticos, quer seja referente à sua vida privada, quer seja por via da sua exposição pública e do desempenho das funções exercidas. Estes protagonistas estão expostos à observação e ao escrutínio dos media, que, cada vez mais, exibem a sua crescente propensão para a cobertura de casos. O fenómeno pode constituir-se, por isso, numa potencial ameaça, com implicações sérias para as pessoas e instituições envolvidas, moldando a descrença numa certa moral pública e condicionando a democracia.
Political scandal is a phenomenon of the media that cover on the alleged breach of rules or moral values by politicians, which can be damaging to their reputation and overturn their ambitions of power. The focus on media is attributable to the leading part that they play in contemporary societies and the visibility they give to scandals, transposing from the strictly private to the broadly public realms alleged events. Based on the assumption that media deliver to society outlooks on topics and events, thus influencing citizens' views of the world, this paper analyses media coverage of political scandals, seeking insight into both the phenomenon and players. Consequently, the main research object consists in collating the media coverage patterns found in the pieces drawn from four Portuguese weekly newspapers which make up the body of the analysis – Expresso, O Jornal, O Independente and Sol – over the democratic period (25 April 1974 to 25 April 2014). Other core issues addressed in this paper are divided into hypotheses presented in this dissertation. These include understanding in what sense media coverage of this phenomenon has evolved in Portugal, if media tend to focus on the spectacle that involves the case, if the cultural context in which the action takes place helps to define the scandalous case, the weight of corruption cases in the political scandal, if we can infer that a major scandal draws the attention of the media away from other ongoing scandals, and if media are more focused at certain times, e.g. during electoral periods and economic and financial crises. The political scandals collected from the periodicals make up a compendium of cases that came up in the media. This survey derives from the need to embark on a new journey that will help shed light upon the links between media, politicians and audience, without neglecting some areas of justice, while focusing in particular on the issue of political corruption. Departing from the most frequent types of political scandal – power, financial and sex –, as distinguished by sociologist John B. Thompson, whom we follow closely, we submit a new classification, based on the conclusion that the aforementioned types do not cover a large share of the events in Portugal. So we propose to add to the list a new kind of scandal called political conduct. Upon monitoring the 99 cases that resulted from the survey there was the need to measure the exact intensity level, to assess their impact in the media. Therefore, the Media Intensity Scale was developed for comparing the impact caused by events. The purpose was to distinguish such events according to the combination of variables in the newspaper articles and other data inherent in the analysis of the media, connecting them through an algorithm designed for this. The analysis of contents can hereby be conducted with greater objectivity and impartiality. Far from being fait divers, political scandal impacts the activities of the political players, both in terms of their private lives, their public exposure and their functions. These players are under the eye and scrutiny of media, which are increasingly interested in such events. Therefore, this phenomenon is a potential threat that has serious consequences for the people and institutions involved, causing scepticism about a public morality and constraining democracy.
FCT - SFRH/BD/84605/2012

A relação entre a Justiça e os media gerou, desde sempre, um debate controverso nas sociedades. Há opiniões que advogam um afastamento total entre as duas áreas, em nome da imparcialidade e do rigor; outras vozes defendem a possibilidade de construção de pontes que favoreçam o dever de informar enquanto bem público, essencial à concretização de uma verdadeira democracia. A presente dissertação pretende averiguar o papel do jornalismo judiciário na «denúncia» de casos de corrupção política em Portugal. Pode o jornalismo assumir uma função de «denunciante»? Estarão os jornalistas preparados para essa tarefa? É necessária uma maior aposta ao nível da formação de jornalistas? A todas estas questões procurámos dar resposta nas páginas que se seguem. A contextualização histórica e a referência a alguns dos casos de corrupção mais mediáticos da última década em Portugal ocupam a primeira parte da dissertação; pareceu-nos relevante revisitar alguns processos conhecidos do grande público para melhor enquadrar a problemática abordada, uma vez que os temas da justiça marcaram presença na imprensa, desde sempre. O relato que a comunicação social faz sobre os casos de corrupção política é objeto de reflexão na segunda parte da tese, tendo em conta os valores-notícia. Selecionámos a cobertura mediática do processo Face Oculta pelo jornal Público e pelo Correio da Manhã como caso de estudo e direcionámos a nossa análise em três fases distintas: divulgação pública da investigação da Polícia Judiciária (outubro de 2009), início do julgamento no Tribunal de Aveiro (novembro de 2011) e leitura do acórdão (setembro de 2014). Para melhor nos documentarmos sobre o processo, entrevistámos agentes da Justiça e dos media, que nos apresentaram a sua perspetiva sobre questões como o segredo de justiça ou a possível criação de gabinetes de imprensa nos tribunais. Na terceira e última parte da dissertação, procurámos enquadrar um conjunto de recomendações quer ao campo da justiça, quer ao campo mediático, com vista a uma relação profícua entre ambos e à concretização de um trabalho pedagógico no combate e na prevenção da corrupção política. Ao longo desta investigação, verifica-se que houve já alguns avanços na comunicação da justiça, mas conclui-se também que há ainda muito caminho a percorrer.