Paper Title :Representative Democracy and Corruption in Political Systems

Author :Jose Natanael Ferreira

Article Citation :Jose Natanael Ferreira , (2017 ) " Representative Democracy and Corruption in Political Systems " , International Journal of Management and Applied Science (IJMAS) , pp. 53-57, Volume-3,Issue-9

Abstract : The present theoretical essay has been written for a paper presentation at the International Conference of Law and Political Sciences (ICLPS), held by the International Institute of Engineers and Researchers (IIER), in July 2017, in Oslo, Norway. The main purpose of this essay is, firstly, to address the elective mandate as a model of political representativeness and, secondly, to hold that this is an ideological strategy based on the persuasion of social groups towards transferring the political power to the countries´ economic power holders who hide themselves behind the so called mass-oriented political leadership in countries experiencing contemporary Democracy. We argue that the legal institutions that are on the basis of the democratic political systems make this ideological strategy possible through disguising political parties, political campaigns and short-term elective mandates whose main purpose is to arrange optimal opportunities to set up business contracts among the Public Administration and a selective group of politicians and businessmen allowing for their own illicit enrichment. To support this argument, we highlight the corruption phenomenon in countries that are at the edge of the global economy and whose legal institutions weaknesses open the door to extraneous arrangements between politicians and businessmen to take control over their countries´ government. For instance, in Brazil (one of the first ten countries listed in the global economy rank), several different political parties that control States and counties across this country not only sank the Brazilian economy, wiped out the financial resources of PETROBRAS S/A, a public oil refinery company, but also contributed deliberately to the illicit enrichment of certain people and groups, bringing about one of the biggest criminal investigations carried out in Brazil, the “Operação Lava Jato”. Finally, we propose some guidelines to minimize the damaging effects that ideological manipulations and arrangements cause to democratic political systems, which include improvements in the Law systems and in the legal institutions´ control arrangements and, lastly, nationwide free press guarantee. Key words— Political representation, Ideological instrumentalization, Economic conglomerates, Brazil, Lava Jato.

Type : Research paper

Published : Volume-3,Issue-9

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