Featuring through analytical discussions of such events as Watergate and Britain's Profumo affair, this book demonstrates that such political scandals are neither idiosyncratic to democratic regimes nor unique to the United States (or, for that matter, unique to world-weary Europeans). Nor are they, as some political scientists claimed some years ago, routine to those underdeveloped societies who have a high toleration of corruption. While sex and money play their part, at the heart of the great scandals of the post-war era lies the violation of process in the pursuit of power.

Reviews

These nine essays by American and British political scientists illuminate the phenomenon of political scandal. In their introduction, the editors argue that political scandal is "an abuse of the liberal tradition that inevitably culminates in a celebration of the values of that tradition." The scandals examined here have played an ambiguously "purifying" role in their given societies. Watergate highlighted the tacit Faustian pact the American people make with their president; consequently, Richard Nixon waged a "futile battle to escape his fate." Italian debacles, replete with Mafia and murder, uncovered an informal or "occult" power that penetrated the highest echelons of legitimate Italian power. The Der Spiegel affair in West Germany demonstrated the abuse and circumvention of law by a minister of the state in order to pursue a personal vendetta. The Greenpeace fiasco exposed the French government's paranoia concerning its nuclear defense policy. "Political scandals," contends one contributor, are "a rich source of edification and amusement." And as this collection aptly demonstrates, they are also an indispensable "tool to understand the institutional configurations that permit it and the political cultures that tolerate it." Markovits coedited Advances in the Social Sciences, 1900-1980 and Silverstein wrote Constitutional Faiths.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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