Organizing Leviathan: On the detrimental effects of corruption and political appointments

Widespread corruption and government inefficiencies cause serious problems in the world today. Recent scholarship has increased our understanding of intriguing difference between polities. However, there is a very important piece missing in this otherwise extensive research, namely an understanding of how bureaucratic structures - such as recruitment and promotion regimes - affect government quality.

To shed light on this issue, professor Carl Dahlström (Gothenburg University and the Quality of Government Institute) will discuss his book Organizing Leviathan (Cambridge University Press) and related papers in Political Research Quarterly and Journal of Politics. He argues that corruption risks are lower when bureaucrats’ careers do not depend on political connections, but on their peers. In the talk, Dahlström develops these ideas, offers empirical narratives supporting the causal mechanisms suggested by the theory, and analyzes implications on a cross-country dataset including more than 100 countries as well as on a sub-national dataset including more than 18,000 public sector employees and over 1.4 million procurement contracts in 212 European regions.

Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson, professor in political science at the University of Iceland, will chair the meeting. 

Carl Dahlström is a professor in political science at the University of Gothenburg. He is working at the Quality of Government Institute, and has been a visiting fellow at Harvard University, Sciences Pó (Paris), and Nuffield College (University of Oxford). Dahlström research revolves around how the political system best should be organized in particular the relationship between bureaucracy and politics, and how clean, honest and non-corrupt government can be brought about.  

Dahlström har published his research extensively in highly ranked journals such as The Journal of Politics, British Journal of Political Science, Governance; Journal of Public Policy; Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory and Public Administration. In addition, he has co-written the monograph Organizing Leviathan (Cambridge University Press); and co-edited the volumes Elites, Institutions, and the Quality of Government (Palgrave) as well as Steering from the Centre: Strengthening Political Control in Western Democracies (University of Toronto Press)