Politics for Sale. Examining forms of political corruption and its negative effects on democratic governance in context of Western Europe

      Аннотация: Political corruption is a phenomenon all too often associated with the developing world and states in democratic transition, but what about within Western Europe.Established democracies pride themselves on the rule of law, stable democratic institutions, periodic elections and checks and balances on the legislature and perhaps feel their long tradition of democratic government is a model for the world. The thesis believes this may not be the case as political parties and candidates in the pursuit for public office are attracting questionable financial donations from external forces and not revealing the source of this income and its “real agenda” and thus jeopardising the trust link between the electorate and legislature. This thesis approaches the subject matter from three different perspectives: the political science, legal and philosophical viewpoints.

Ключевые слова: Social Contract, Free Mandate, Elections, Political Corruption, Edmund Burke, Western Liberal Democracy, Constitutional law, France, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom