Politics of Scandal

The two decades since the Watergate scandal have seen an unprecedented focus on ethics in government. The public integrity scandals of the Clinton administration have, once again, focused national attention on ethics in Washington. This work addresses this very topical subject and the authors come to some unusual conclusions. Tracing the origins of the modern public integrity war back to the very birth of the nation, the authors explain how conservatives and progressives have used allegations of unethical conduct in an effort to persuade the American public to accept their respective visions for American society. A cynical public, anesthetized to the distinction between actual wrongdoing and partisan attack, follows ideology and self-interest rather than character, allowing politicians to get away with even the most egregious conduct.

This volume presents a new theory of American politics developed through an investigation of the alternation of reform and reaction over the last century. By employing historical examples and resurveying the chronological territory chapter by chapter, the study details the development and decline of liberal reform movements and focuses on the similarities between eras of reform and reactionary phases and the interrelationship of reform movements over the decades.

Law in Korea has historically been viewed as merely a tool of authoritarian rule, but since the transition to democracy in 1987 it has served a more important & visible role, as a force for social change. The volume explores this response to domestic & international pressures.

Rodney Tiffen is Associate Professor of Government at the University of Sydney.

Original essays by experts in French politics survey campaign issues, party strategies, constitutional rules and institutions, and the electorate in the context of the 1995 presidential election and the 1997 legislative elections in France.