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Corrupture : changing perceptions of corruption and political reform in eighteenth-century South-Western Europe
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0018-246X; 1469-5103
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Historical journal, 2025, OnlineFirst
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ENA SANJUÁN, Íñigo, Corrupture : changing perceptions of corruption and political reform in eighteenth-century South-Western Europe, Historical journal, 2025, OnlineFirst - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/78222
Abstract
In eighteenth-century south-western Europe, actors involved in local conflicts reshaped both their views of corrupt behaviours and their political practices. While these historical phenomena occurred simultaneously, their relationship is far more complex than a straightforward cause-and-effect dynamic. Through four local case-studies, this article examines the multiple connections between changing perceptions of corrupt practices and political reform. New evaluations of abuses and frauds spurred reforms in some cases; in others, corruption was redefined once the reforms had been implemented, to justify those reforms (or their failure, if they did not succeed). Some case-studies show that there was no link between the two processes, while others reveal that the logics of the political changes prevented tackling practices which had started to be seen as corrupt. The article demonstrates that there was a transformation in the evaluation of certain practices that began to be classified as corrupt, and establishes links between these changes and the reforms implemented from the mid-eighteenth century onwards. Additionally, by placing south-western European regions within a broader framework, it challenges deeply rooted assumptions about the backwardness of these polities and their former colonies as a consequence of failed transitions to modern notions of corruption.
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Published online: 12 March 2025