A Clean House? ─ Studies of Corruption in Sweden

In virtually all popular indices and scales measuring bribery and dishonesty on a national level, Sweden performs strongly with its quality of rule of law and absence of corruption. But does this automatically imply that this ?least sickly” patient can be declared perfectly healthy? By extensively reviewing existing research and consulting various sources of data, the authors of ?A Clean House?” attempt to unpack the Swedish case. What do we know about corruption in Sweden, and what can be said of such affairs over time in the country? The four scholars of political science demonstrate that countries typically viewed as low-corruption states can have particular problems of a different type that should not be underestimated nor neglected. Perhaps a detailed survey of corruption in Sweden can tell us about problems in low-corruption countries generally. The authors’ main objectives are to argue the importance of analysing corruption also in low-corruption countries, and to reveal causes, scope and consequences of the corruption found here. At the same time they demonstrate the shortcomings of evaluations such as the CPI in capturing problems of corruption, and also suggest constructive reforms that might curb the types of corruption occurring in a fairly healthy societies.