No Rule of Law, No Democracy: Conflicts of Inte, Nicolescu-Waggonner+-

No Rule of Law, No DemocracyConflicts of Interest, Corruption, and Elections as Democratic Deficits\nAuthor(s): Cristina Nicolescu-Waggonner\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: State University of New York Press, United States\nImprint: State University of New York Press\nISBN-13: 9781438462639, 978-1438462639\nSynopsis\nArgues that new democracies face consolidation challenges due to campaign finance corruption and the unwillingness of politicians to reform rule of law enforcement.\n\nMainstream theories assert that democracy cures corruption. In market economies, however, elections are expensive and parties, with ever-thinning memberships, cannot legally acquire the necessary campaign funds. In order to secure electoral funds, a large number of politicians misappropriate public funds. Due to the illicit character of these transactions, high officials with conflicts of interest prefer to leave anticorruption enforcement mechanisms unreformed and reserve the right to intervene in the judic.