Trust and distrust : corruption in office in Britain and its empire, 1600-1850 / Mark Knights.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Knights, Mark, author.

Contributor:

Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Misconduct in office--Great Britain--History.

Misconduct in office.

Corruption--Great Britain--History.

Corruption.

History.

Great Britain.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xvi, 488 pages : illustrations, facsimiles, maps ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2021.

Summary:

"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.

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

6. Interest and Disinterestedness

The Partial Separation of Interests

Conflicting Interests in Commercial Office

Preventing Conflicts of Interest

Political Office and Pecuniary Interests

7. Public Money, Public Accounts, and Accountability

The Evolution of a Problem

Public Accounting

Applying the Principles of Trust

8. Informal Accountability, Distrust, and Speaking Out

Sample Cases

Patriotism and the Public Good

Entrepreneurial Anti-Corruption

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

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

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

12. Gifts and Informal Profits of Office

The Ambiguity of Gifts

Proscribing Political Presents

Gifts in the Imperial Context

Extortionate Fees and Gratuities

13. Conclusion

Comparative Contexts and Future Research

14. Policy Implications.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

0198796242

9780198796244

OCLC:

1250309539