CORRUPTION Syndromes of Corruption

74 Syndromes of Corruption
Germany: sharing the spoils
Like the United States, Germany has a federal system, democratic politics,
and a highly developed economy. It receives favorable corruption rankings,
although it too has problems at local levels and is home to international
businesses whose dealings have led to scandals. Its corruption differs from
the American example to a degree because of the country’s party system,
conceptions of democracy, and the role of the state in the economy. Still,
Germany fits solidly within the Influence Market syndrome.
Seibel (1997: 98–99) notes that the post-unification era has been
marked by numerous small scandals, and that small-scale affairs often
attract press and public interest while more important cases go nearly
unnoticed. He attributes this pattern to long-term weaknesses in democratic
values. Germany acquired a powerful modern bureaucracy and
state before it liberalized its political system; democracy was eventually
handed down from above rather than built from the grassroots. The
German Rechtsstaat at its legal-administrative core has not been totally
incorruptible, but citizens have long regarded it as relatively clean (Seibel,
1997: 86, 90–92). More problems arise, however, in the Sozialstaat – that
part of government that handles major revenues and delivers significant
benefits. In 1999 The Economist (December 9) reported that over the
previous year German police had investigated 2,400 cases of corruption,
double the figure for 1996. Corruption is fairly extensive in local government
construction contracting, for example (Seibel, 1997). A variety
of interests contend for contracts and other benefits, and Germany’s
decentralized political system offers a wide range of access points at
which parties and politicians can stand as middlemen.
Three large, well-financed and well-organized major parties dominate
German politics and link those interests to policy processes. From left to
right they are the Social Democrats (SPD), the Free Democrats (FDP),
and the Christian Democratic Union, known in Bavaria as the Christian
Social Union (CDU/CSU). Also significant, though smaller and often
fractious, is the Green Party. These parties provide a variety of connections:
vertically, among levels of government; horizontally, among the
Länder (states) and their subdivisions; and sectorally among contending
social and economic interests. As in the US, Influence Markets also work
to reduce political competition. Germany’s federal and parliamentary
system encourages – indeed, necessitates – party coalitions at all levels.
Major parties are rarely wholly out of power; even after defeats and
scandals they and their leaders retain political leverage. Thus, leaders of
several parties are friends worth having. Moreover, despite generous
public funding German election campaigns remain expensive business,