Trust and distrust corruption in office in Britain and its empire, 1600-1850 / Mark Knights.
| Author/creator | Knights, Mark |
| Other author | Oxford University Press. |
| Format | Electronic |
| Edition | First edition. |
| Publication Info | Oxford ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2021. |
| Description | xvi, 488 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm |
| Supplemental Content | Full text available from Oxford Scholarship Online |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction -- 2. Indian Civil Servants -- Corruption in Delhi 1829 -- The East India Company, Imperialism, and Corruption -- 3. Conceptualising Office -- Defining Office -- The Historiography of Office -- 4. Conceptualising Corruption in Office -- Personal, Institutional, and Systemic Corruption -- The Religious and Moral Language of Corruption -- Classical and Civic Humanist Ideas about Political Corruption -- The Effect of Changing Ideas about Political Economy -- The Legal Definitions of Corruption in Office -- Conclusion -- 5. Trust, Standards of Public Office, and Corruption -- The Evolution of Office as a Trust -- The Development of Trust, Corruption, and Office -- Conclusion -- 6. Interest and Disinterestedness -- The Partial Separation of Interests -- Conflicting Interests in Commercial Office -- Preventing Conflicts of Interest -- Political Office and Pecuniary Interests -- Conclusion -- 7. Public Money, Public Accounts, and Accountability -- The Evolution of a Problem -- Public Accounting -- Applying the Principles of Trust -- Conclusion -- 8. Informal Accountability, Distrust, and Speaking Out -- Sample Cases -- Patriotism and the Public Good -- Entrepreneurial Anti-Corruption -- Conclusion -- 9. Freedom of the Press and Anti-Corruption -- Printed Criticism of Corrupt Officials -- The Case for the Government -- Anglo-Indian Debates -- The Cape -- Censoring the Stage -- Using Print to Counter Anti-Corruption -- Conclusion -- 10. The Politics of Anti-Corruption -- Corruption as a Politicised Discourse -- The Politics of Impeachment -- Anti-Corruption as an Emotive Discourse -- The Politics of Colonial Anti-Corruption -- Caribbean Politics and Corruption in the Early Eighteenth Century -- Conclusion -- 11. Sale of Office -- Uncertain Boundaries -- Waves of Anxiety about Venality -- Arguments against the Sale of Office -- Defences of the Sale of Office -- Army Commissions -- Conclusion -- 12. Gifts and Informal Profits of Office -- The Ambiguity of Gifts -- Proscribing Political Presents -- Gifts in the Imperial Context -- Extortionate Fees and Gratuities -- Conclusion -- 13. Conclusion -- Comparative Contexts and Future Research -- 14. Policy Implications. |
| Abstract | "The book offers the first overview of Britain's history of corruption in office in the pre-modern era, 1600-1850. As such, it is intended to appeal to historians but also to political and social scientists, whose work is extensively cited in an expansive and evaluative bibliography. Another distinctive feature of the book is the interaction of the domestic and imperial stories of corruption in office - a key argument is that these were intertwined and related. Linking corruption in office to the domestic and imperial state has not been attempted before, and the book makes extensive use of material relating to the East India Company as well as other colonial officials in the Atlantic World and elsewhere in Britain's emerging empire. Both 'corruption' and 'office' were concepts that were in evolution during the period 1600-1850 and underwent very significant but protracted change which the book charts and seeks to explain. To do so, the book makes innovative use of the concept of trust, which helped to shape office in ways that underlined principles of selflessness, disinterestedness, integrity, and accountability of officials. The reader's report suggested that 'no historian of this long period can afford to ignore the book, and it will certainly appeal to a large readership not only among historians of Britain and its empire but among political scientists more generally.' There is a brief concluding section highlighting policy implications"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 437-474) and index. |
| Access restriction | Available only to authorized users. |
| Technical details | Mode of access: World Wide Web |
| Genre/form | Electronic books. |
| LCCN | 2021944936 |
| ISBN | 0198796242 (hardcover) |
| ISBN | 9780198796244 (hardcover) |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electronic Resources | Access Content Online | ✔ Available |