Maxene Johnston
Biographic Data
| ID | 86004 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Maxene Johnston |
| GIVEN NAMES | Maxene |
| FAMILY NAME | Johnston |
| SIGNATURE | JOHNSTON M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Colgate University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9869-6357 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 63 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 428 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 63 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1975 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 11 |
Corruption in America: A Fifty-Ring Circus
How corrupt is the United States of America? While the US presents itself as an exemplar of democratic government and politics, many citizens see it as highly corrupt. In this book, Oguzhan Dincer and Michael Johnston explore corruption across a range of policy areas in all fifty states using two major forms of corruption – legal and illegal – via three proxy measures of corruption. They not only estimate the pervasiveness of such corruption in e…
Conclusion: Beyond Borders, Beyond Bribery—Rethinking the Terrain of Cross-Border Corruption
This special issue set out to reconceptualize cross-border corruption not as a deviant anomaly or isolated infraction, but as a systemic, adaptive, and often strategic modality of governance within the globalized political economy. The contributions affirm that corruption is not a breakdown of order—it is a mode of order, one that operates transnationally by leveraging legal ambiguities, jurisdictional asymmetries, and the structural opportunitie…
Rethinking Cross-Border Corruption: Limits of Conventional Paradigms: A Special Issue of American Behavioral Scientist
In October 2024, an interdisciplinary group of over thirty social scientists gathered in Barcelona, Spain, at the Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI), to reconsider the analytical and policy challenges of cross-border corruption. The conference was sponsored by the European Union under the European Commission’s Horizon Europe Programme for Research and Innovation, Grant Agreement number 101132483 (Project: BridgeGap). This special …
Academic Freedom in New Zealand
Visible English: Graphic Culture, Scribal Practice, and Identity, c. 700-c.1550
In this provocative, learned, and remarkably wide-ranging study, Wendy Scase offers a revisionist history of the role of English writing. In Scase's argument, the visible presence of written English helped form identities of those literate in the vernacular. The key to this identity formation is not merely dialectal markers, lexis, or degree of Latinity—all aspects that have long been recognized as doing such work in medieval England. For Scase, …
Desiring to Write/Learning to Write in Late Medieval England
Scholars have long recognized that writing came to play a large role in late medieval English society. In this article I attend to two key elements of this development, both of which have been largely understudied. First, I argue that informal writing, such as the memoranda, epistolary formulas, and Latin phrases populating the margins and flyleaves of manuscripts, demonstrates that the desire to write went far beyond those who copied documents f…
Essential lessons from an unpromising source: What reformers can learn from the Philippines on corruption control
Purpose Corruption control in the Republic of the Philippines (RP) has hardly failed, but it is not (yet) a success story either. Dramatic “people power” episodes have occurred, but populism has also, at times, led to repression. Still, essential reform lessons are available. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual reassessment of corruption control. Central concerns include the types of corruption experienced in the country, incentives …
Connecting after Chaos: Social Media and the Extended Aftermath of Disaster
Quality of Life Outcomes for Patients Who Underwent Conventional Resection and Liver Transplantation for Locally Advanced Hepatoblastoma
Hepatoblastoma is the most common malignant liver tumor of childhood, with liver transplant and extended resection used as surgical treatments for locally advanced tumors. Although each approach has well-described post-operative complications, quality-of-life outcomes have not been described following the two interventions. Long-term pediatric survivors of hepatoblastoma who underwent conventional liver resection or liver transplantation at a sin…
Piers Plowman” and Its Manuscript Tradition
Perceived Freedom of Expression at New Zealand Universities
Few topics are currently as polarizing as the appropriate limits, and perceived dangers, of free speech on university campuses. A side effect of this polarized environment is that students themselves may be reluctant to speak publicly on politically sensitive topics. Indeed, recent surveys by the Heterodox Academy (HxA) revealed that a majority of American university students thought their campus was not conducive to the free expression of ideas,…
The Gilded Page: The Secret Lives of Medieval Manuscripts
Black and ( thin ) blue ( line ): Corruption and other political determinants of police killings in America
Police violence is not uncommon in America, and the risk of civilians' being killed by police is considerably higher here than in similar countries, making it a major public health issue. For Black Americans the risk is significantly higher. In this study, we analyze the political determinants of police killings of Black Americans, with a specific focus on corruption in American states. Our evidence suggests that police can kill Black Americans w…
The Conundrum of Corruption: Reform for social justice
This book argues that it is time to step back and reassess the anti-corruption movement, which despite its many opportunities and great resources has ended up with a track record that is indifferent at best. Drawing on many years of experience and research, the authors critique many of the major strategies and tactics employed by anti-corruption actors, arguing that they have made the mistake of holding on to problematical assumptions, ideas, and…
Legal corruption
Copying and Reading The Prick of Conscience in Late Medieval England
Previous articleNext article FreeCopying and Reading The Prick of Conscience in Late Medieval EnglandMichael JohnstonMichael JohnstonMichael Johnston is Associate Professor of English at Purdue University ([email protected])Full TextPDF Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreIt has often been remarked that The Prick of Conscience (hereafter, PoC) was among…
Pedagogies for active citizenship: Learning through affective and cognitive domains for deeper democratic engagement
Reforming Reform: Revising the Anticorruption Playbook
Three decades of anticorruption activism have yielded only indifferent results. It is time to step back and rethink some basic issues. Among them are what the opposite of corruption might look like; our excessive faith in transparency; the distinction between “grand” and “petty” corruption; our reliance on the concept of “political will”; and what the best ways are of measuring corruption and mobilizing civil society. “Best practices” are elusive…
Afterword
The afterword to this volume argues that seeking a triumph of anticorruption smacks of rosy self-assessments that situate us at the end of history. It continues to explain that there are at least two other major fallacies in the ways we commonly understand corruption problems. One is to assume that the standards against which we judge political actors are more or less permanent aspects of the political landscape. The second fallacy is to assume t…
Right and Wrong in American Politics: Popular Conceptions of Corruption
Social conceptions of corruption and misconduct in politics are of interest for several reasons. They have much to do with popular trust (or distrust) of elites and institutions, and they also affect one's own choices as to participation or nonparticipation in politics. Moreover, anyone undertaking reforms would be well advised to consider popular standards of right and wrong before devising anticorruption measures or asking for political support…
The corruption cure: How citizens and leaders can combat graft
It is apparent that we have learned a great deal in the three decades since the end of the Cold War, when the onset of globalization and changing attitudes in international organizations and businesses gave rise to a new anti-corruption movement. Accomplishments, however, have been more difficult: progress has been made in specific cities, agencies and in some small countries, but clear-cut, sustained reductions in corruption across entire societ…
Political Culture and Corruption Issues in State Politics: A New Measure of Corruption Issues and a Test of Relationships to Political Culture
To what extent does variation in political culture influence the number and types of corruption issues arising in U.S. states? Drawing upon Daniel Elazar’s enduring typology of American political subcultures and using a new news-based measure of corruption issues, we find that political culture remains a “sticky” deep determinant of the distribution of corruption issues across states. Unlike previous empirical studies we do not treat political cu…
Respondent mode choice in a smartphone survey
Now that people on mobile devices can easily choose their mode of communication (e.g., voice, text, video), survey designers can potentially allow respondents to answer questions in whatever mode they find momentarily convenient given their circumstances or that they chronically prefer. We conducted an experiment to explore how mode choice affects response quality, participation, and satisfaction in smartphone interviews. A total of 1,260 iPhone …
Drifters and Dreamers: A Cross-National Exchange of Labor and Wages
The Medieval Manuscript Book: Cultural Approaches
Traditional scholarship on manuscripts has tended to focus on issues concerning their production and has shown comparatively little interest in the cultural contexts of the manuscript book. The Medieval Manuscript Book redresses this by focusing on aspects of the medieval book in its cultural situations. Written by experts in the study of the handmade book before print, this volume combines bibliographical expertise with broader insights into the…
Rethinking Patrimonialism and Neopatrimonialism in Africa
Current usages of the termspatrimonialandneopatrimonialin the context of Africa are conceptually problematical and amount to a serious misreading of Weber. His use of the termpatrimonialdelineated a legitimate type of authority, not a type of regime, and included notions of reciprocity and voluntary compliance between rulers and the ruled. Those reciprocities enabled subjects to check the actions of rulers, which most analyses of (neo) patrimonia…
The search for definitions: The Vitality of Politics and the Issue of Corruption
The Political Consequences of Corruption: A Reassessment
Disagreement continues over the political consequences of corruption. Perspectives on the question are almost as numerous as cases of corruption itself. Thus, the literature resists any easy classification into schools of thought. In general, however, (a term used more by critics of this outlook than by its adherents) have long argued that corruption is harmful to societies and governments, impeding development and eroding the legitimacy even of …
Patrons and Clients, Jobs and Machines: A Case Study of the Uses of Patronage
How are patronage rewards allocated within a political machine? This article studies the distribution of 675 CETA Title I jobs within a New Haven machine. Data suggest that the jobs were used as patronage, but that patronage allocations did not follow conventionally assumed patterns of organization maintenance. Ethnic particularism overshadowed, and in fact redefined, considerations of vote-maximization and recruitment of workers. Questionnaire d…
Right & Wrong in American Politics: Popular Conceptions of Corruption
None of us would want to appear as favoring corruption. But reflection, and even conversation with friends and neighbors, might reveal that we did not all regard the same practices as corrupt or equally blameworthy. In this article, Professor Johnston presents data to show that in their reactions to cases of corruption people go beyond questions of legality to consider the size and type of stakes, mitigating circumstances and motives, and the ide…
Corruption and Political Culture in America: An Empirical Perspective
Political culture helps define the boundaries of permissible political action. Thus, it should affect the amounts and types of political corruption occurring in political systems, as well as responses to corruption when it is discovered. This article compares the distribution of corruption convictions among federal judicial districts over a three-year period to social and political characteristics of the districts, and to scaled measures of Elaza…
Political Corruption: Historical Conflict and the Rise of Standards
Political CorruptionHistorical Conflict and the Rise of Standards Michael Johnston (bio) Sooner or later, citizens and scholars concerned about the prospects for sustainable democracy must come to terms with the problem of corruption. The two concepts are closely intertwined, posing fundamental questions about the accountability and limits of government, as well as about the legitimacy and limits of private influence over public policy. Sometimes…
Political Culture and Corruption Issues in State Politics: A New Measure of Corruption Issues and a Test of Relationships to Political Culture
To what extent does variation in political culture influence the number and types of corruption issues arising in U.S. states? Drawing upon Daniel Elazar’s enduring typology of American political subcultures and using a new news-based measure of corruption issues, we find that political culture remains a “sticky” deep determinant of the distribution of corruption issues across states. Unlike previous empirical studies we do not treat political cu…
China's Surge of Corruption
China's Surge of Corruption Michael Johnston (bio) and Yufan Hao (bio) The recent petitions by 12 Chinese intellectuals and by 45 prominent scientists calling for tolerance, democratic reforms, and action against official corruption in China are not only courageous political statements. They illuminate a fundamental dilemma in contemporary China: how to define legitimate relationships and boundaries between personal interests and official power i…
Does Democracy Check Corruption? Insights from China and India
Democracy is widely expected to restrain corruption.1 Democratic institutions and pol itics make it more likely that corruption will be discovered and publicized, allow cit izens and political oppositions to make an issue of corruption, and facilitate recourse ranging from public hearings to voting the scoundrels out. Other claimed advantages of democracy include horizontal accountability via independent judiciaries and various checks and balance…
Right & Wrong in British Politics: "Fits of Morality" in Comparative Perspective
Conceptions of right and wrong are an integral aspect of politics and culture. Reactions to public or private misconduct can illuminate basic political values and commitments. This article explores conceptions of right and wrong in Great Britain and compares its findings with those of an earlier study of American conceptions of wrongdoing published in these pages
Fighting Systemic Corruption: Social Foundations for Institutional Reform
Pedagogies for active citizenship: Learning through affective and cognitive domains for deeper democratic engagement
Syndromes of Corruption: Wealth, Power, and Democracy
Assessing Vulnerabilities to Corruption: Indicators and Benchmarks of Government Performance
What kinds of evidence can help reformers identify anti-corruption priorities, apply effective countermeasures, and track the effects of their efforts? Indicators of government performance, compared to benchmarks from comparable agencies, offer numerous advantages over perception-based indices. Performance indicators allow estimates of the effects of past corruption, identify current vulnerabilities, and track trends in terms that are easily unde…
Legal corruption
Respondent mode choice in a smartphone survey
Now that people on mobile devices can easily choose their mode of communication (e.g., voice, text, video), survey designers can potentially allow respondents to answer questions in whatever mode they find momentarily convenient given their circumstances or that they chronically prefer. We conducted an experiment to explore how mode choice affects response quality, participation, and satisfaction in smartphone interviews. A total of 1,260 iPhone …
The corruption cure: How citizens and leaders can combat graft
It is apparent that we have learned a great deal in the three decades since the end of the Cold War, when the onset of globalization and changing attitudes in international organizations and businesses gave rise to a new anti-corruption movement. Accomplishments, however, have been more difficult: progress has been made in specific cities, agencies and in some small countries, but clear-cut, sustained reductions in corruption across entire societ…
Maximal levels of aspiration, minimal boundary goals, and their relationships with academic achievement: The case of secondary‐school students
Maximising educational attainment is important for both individuals and societies. However, understanding of why some students achieve better than others is far from complete. Motivation and achievement data from a sample of 782 secondary‐school students in New Zealand reveal that two specific types of outcome goals, namely maximal levels of aspiration and minimal boundary goals , predict subsequent student achievement independently of mastery, p…
From Thucydides to Mayor Daley: Bad Politics, and a Culture of Corruption
“Don't Vote—It Only Encourages Them!”The words appeared on a chalkboard outside a London pub the day after Margaret Thatcher called the 1987 general election, but they might just as well be the motto of half or more of the American electorate in 2006 as well. Deep into a midterm election campaign in a time of war and economic worries—a campaign that could change control of one or, conceivably, both houses of Congress, and that will set the stage …
The “New Christian Right” in American Politics
Perceived Freedom of Expression at New Zealand Universities
Few topics are currently as polarizing as the appropriate limits, and perceived dangers, of free speech on university campuses. A side effect of this polarized environment is that students themselves may be reluctant to speak publicly on politically sensitive topics. Indeed, recent surveys by the Heterodox Academy (HxA) revealed that a majority of American university students thought their campus was not conducive to the free expression of ideas,…
Reforming Reform: Revising the Anticorruption Playbook
Three decades of anticorruption activism have yielded only indifferent results. It is time to step back and rethink some basic issues. Among them are what the opposite of corruption might look like; our excessive faith in transparency; the distinction between “grand” and “petty” corruption; our reliance on the concept of “political will”; and what the best ways are of measuring corruption and mobilizing civil society. “Best practices” are elusive…
More than Necessary, Less than Sufficient: Democratization and the Control of Corruption
This paper offers two arguments. First, putting limits on the uses of wealth and power has often been a matter of contention and controversy driven by citizens' self-interests, rather than of dedicated efforts to build good government. Indeed, without such contention we would not have any clear concept of corruption. Such "deep democratization" is necessary for effective and lasting reform. But democratic politics is scarcely sufficient: we might…
Political communication in America
Nursing and Anthropology: The "Dual Competencies" Dilemma: Factors in combining Nursing and Anthropology in a Health Setting
Public Policies, Private Choices: New-Town Planning and Lifestyles in Three Nations
Can the character of urban life and social interaction be decisively shaped by physical and social planning? This paper examines new towns in Britain, the United States, and the USSR, and finds that, although Soviet and western planners seek differing patterns of urban life, even the most comprehensive plans have failed to foster distinctive lifestyles. Assumptions and biases of both planning approaches are analyzed, as are the contribu tions of …
Maternal Beliefs about Vitamin Efficacy in Four U.S. Subcultures
Widespread use of supplemental vitamins continues in the absence of clear scientific evidence of efficacy. Observations in a variety of pediatric health settings suggest that their use may be based on expectations rooted in a variety of culturally based attitudes and beliefs. Mothers of well babies in four ethnic groups answered questionnaires, indicating their expectations of vitamin efficacy. We called those expectations aligned with organized …
Patrons and Clients, Jobs and Machines: A Case Study of the Uses of Patronage
How are patronage rewards allocated within a political machine? This article studies the distribution of 675 CETA Title I jobs within a New Haven machine. Data suggest that the jobs were used as patronage, but that patronage allocations did not follow conventionally assumed patterns of organization maintenance. Ethnic particularism overshadowed, and in fact redefined, considerations of vote-maximization and recruitment of workers. Questionnaire d…
The “New Christian Right” in American Politics
Corruption and Political Culture in America: An Empirical Perspective
Political culture helps define the boundaries of permissible political action. Thus, it should affect the amounts and types of political corruption occurring in political systems, as well as responses to corruption when it is discovered. This article compares the distribution of corruption convictions among federal judicial districts over a three-year period to social and political characteristics of the districts, and to scaled measures of Elaza…
Right & Wrong in American Politics: Popular Conceptions of Corruption
None of us would want to appear as favoring corruption. But reflection, and even conversation with friends and neighbors, might reveal that we did not all regard the same practices as corrupt or equally blameworthy. In this article, Professor Johnston presents data to show that in their reactions to cases of corruption people go beyond questions of legality to consider the size and type of stakes, mitigating circumstances and motives, and the ide…
The Political Consequences of Corruption: A Reassessment
Disagreement continues over the political consequences of corruption. Perspectives on the question are almost as numerous as cases of corruption itself. Thus, the literature resists any easy classification into schools of thought. In general, however, (a term used more by critics of this outlook than by its adherents) have long argued that corruption is harmful to societies and governments, impeding development and eroding the legitimacy even of …
FraudWasteandAbuse
White House Ethics: The History of the Politics of Conflict of Interest Regulation, by Robert N. Roberts
Journal Article White House Ethics: The History of the Politics of Conflict of Interest Regulation, by Robert N. Roberts Get access White House Ethics: The History of the Politics of Conflict of Interest Regulation by Robert N. Roberts. Westport, Conn., Greenwood Press, 1988. 215 pp. $37.95. Michael Johnston Michael Johnston Colgate University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Vo…
Corruption and Political culture in Britain and The United States
Activities and Appointments
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Right & Wrong in British Politics: "Fits of Morality" in Comparative Perspective
Conceptions of right and wrong are an integral aspect of politics and culture. Reactions to public or private misconduct can illuminate basic political values and commitments. This article explores conceptions of right and wrong in Great Britain and compares its findings with those of an earlier study of American conceptions of wrongdoing published in these pages
Political Corruption: Historical Conflict and the Rise of Standards
Political CorruptionHistorical Conflict and the Rise of Standards Michael Johnston (bio) Sooner or later, citizens and scholars concerned about the prospects for sustainable democracy must come to terms with the problem of corruption. The two concepts are closely intertwined, posing fundamental questions about the accountability and limits of government, as well as about the legitimacy and limits of private influence over public policy. Sometimes…
Political communication in America
China's Surge of Corruption
China's Surge of Corruption Michael Johnston (bio) and Yufan Hao (bio) The recent petitions by 12 Chinese intellectuals and by 45 prominent scientists calling for tolerance, democratic reforms, and action against official corruption in China are not only courageous political statements. They illuminate a fundamental dilemma in contemporary China: how to define legitimate relationships and boundaries between personal interests and official power i…
The search for definitions: The Vitality of Politics and the Issue of Corruption
Fighting Systemic Corruption: Social Foundations for Institutional Reform
The Self-Restraining State: Power and Accountability in New Democracies
Corrupt Exchanges: Actors, Resources, and Mechanisms of Political Corruption
Journal Article Corrupt Exchanges: Actors, Resources, and Mechanisms of Political Corruption Get access Corrupt Exchanges: Actors, Resources, and Mechanisms of Political Corruption by Donatella della Porta and Alberto Vannucci. New York, Aldine de Gruyter, 1999. 314 pp. Cloth, $51.95; paper, $25.95. Michael Johnston Michael Johnston Colgate University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quart…
Corruption et démocratie: Menaces Pour Le Développement, Possibilités De Réforme
Michael JOHNSTON — Corruption and democracy : threats to development, opportunities for reform. Democratization, economic development and corruption are intertwined. In some countries affluence, democracy and moderate to low levels of corruption reinforce each other ; elsewhere, poverty, undemocratic politics and high levels of corruption form another, much more diverse, category of cases. Serious corruption threatens democracy, both directly and…
HIV/Aids in China: 1990–2001
Building a Clean Machine: Anti-Corruption Coalitions and Sustainable Reform
Many societies have limited corruption through the broad-based mobilization of a diverse range of interests willing and able to defend themselves by making meaningful demands for accountability of, and limits on, official power, and for an end to illicit advantages enjoyed by others. Historically such a process has taken place gradually, as political development has proceeded and the base of participation broadens. But today's high-corruption soc…
Hyper-edges and multidimensional centrality
Syndromes of Corruption: Wealth, Power, and Democracy
Corruption is a threat to democracy and economic development in many societies. It arises in the ways people pursue, use and exchange wealth and power, and in the strength or weakness of the state, political and social institutions that sustain and restrain those processes. Differences in these factors, Michael Johnston argues, give rise to four major syndromes of corruption: Influence Markets, Elite Cartels, Oligarchs and Clans, and Official Mog…
Political science (45 works) · Law (36 works) · Politics (34 works) · Sociology (34 works) · Language change (33 works) · Corruption and Economic Development (31 works) · Political economy (25 works) · Law (23 works) · Economics (18 works) · Computer Science (14 works)