Public Opinion and Modernity in Venezuela's Anti-Corruption Trials, 1945-8

Bibliographic Data

ID3215575
AuthorsDoug Yarrington (Colorado State University, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume51
Issue1
Pages59-83
Publication date2019-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Latin American Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-216X • E-ISSN: 1469-767X
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0022216x18000640
OpenAlexW2885443853
LanguageEN
References cited13

This article explores the reasons why the most important anti-corruption campaign in twentieth-century Venezuela failed to win sustained support. Employing a constructivist approach to historical actors' understandings of corruption, it analyses the debates that erupted when the Acción Democrática (Democratic Action, AD) party prosecuted 167 former officials for illicit enrichment. The ensuing debate demonstrates that AD and its opponents disagreed over the proper boundaries between the public and private spheres in a modern state. AD sought to punish officials who used public office for private gain, but critiques of the trials effectively countered AD and contributed to its overthrow in 1948

Action (physics) · Art · Democracy · Language change · Modernity · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public opinion · Public sphere · Sociology · State (computer science) · Corruption and Economic Development · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Law · Politics and Society in Latin America · Public Administration

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