Research project
Corruption & Integrity in the Netherlands (1945 - present)
Corruption, integrity (or a lack thereof…) and public values are near omnipresent elements in public administration and politics of all times. Cases of corrupt public officials and politicians continuously emerge. Strangely enough, however, it often remains unknown what actually occurred, how something could have happened, why certain behavior was deemed (in)appropriate, what the sanction(s) was / were and what was done to prevent similar occurrences in the future. As a consequence it also remains largely unknown what ideas on right and wrong public official behavior existed over time, which public values are important in defining corrupt behavior and when and why both values and ideas on corruption change over time. In this project of the Centre for Public Values & Ethics (CPVE), we aim to gather knowledge with which to improve this situation.
In the project Corruption & Integrity in the Netherlands (1945 - present), the Centre for Public Values & Ethics (CPVE) works together with groups of students from the Leiden University Public Administration Msc. program. Together we collect, describe and analyze scandals revolving around (supposed) acts of corruption and lacking integrity (by politicians, executives, and civil servants) from the Netherlands between 1945 and the present. This research provides many answers to important key questions of the CPVE on the moral state and development of Dutch public administration and opens the door for much future research.
For more information on the project and its database please visit the Virtual Research Environment of the CPVE.
The project Corruption & Integrity in the Netherlands (1945 - present) analyzes scandals surrounding (supposed) political corruption and lacking integrity and places them in an online database in the form of a Virtual Research Environment (VRE). The database consists of case studies of scandals of corruption between 1945 and the present. It provides input for the development of theory and methodology for research on political corruption and public integrity and is of use for teaching and further research on the (changing) normative foundations of government. The database is presented online in our Virtual Research Environment and offers a valuable addition to existing research with rich, thick description case studies of debates surrounding corruption scandals.
For more information on the project and its database please visit the Virtual Research Environment of the Centre for Public Values & Ethics (CPVE).
For their work on the project Corruption & Integrity in the Netherlands (1945 - present), the Centre for Public Values & Ethics (CPVE) wishes to thank the various students that have contributed over the years. In particular this concerns the Leiden University Public Administration master students who did much research and writing for the case-studies. These were (in no particular order): Thomas Möhring, Arne Langendoen, Claire Bakker, Jurre Terhorst, Lisanne Doedens, Annika Duut van Goor, Jerry Snellink, Nils Martens, Rajni Ghiraw, Nana Zhang, Rivka Miedema, Simone de Ruijter, Vivian Wildeboer and Stefano Navarro. Also: Jan Jouke Tjalsma from the Leiden University Library gave technical support. Our former student-assistant Lance Gillissen worked hard on the overall improvement of cases, database and website.
The CPVE also acknowledges financial support from the Leiden University Library and from the Leiden Teachers' Academy.