One of the problems in strengthening Brazilian democracy has been the endurance of continued corruption on the part of state officials. The result has been the institutionalization of a political culture, which shows a growing alienation, and apathy of citizens regarding politics. This behavior has its origins in citizens´ perception that the state and public authorities cannot be trusted producing an inertial democracy with low stocks of social capital. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between corruption practices by state authorities and the structuring of a defective political culture in Brazil. The working hypothesis is that serious cases of institutionalized corruption are possible due to invisible social ties created among public authorities, producing social capital of a negative nature, which constraints the effective advancements in Brazilian democracy.
KeywordsCorruption; Brazil; Political Culture; Negative Social Capital.
ResumoUm dos problemas no fortalecimento da democracia brasileira é a continuada corrupção de gestores públicos e políticos. O resultado se manifesta na institucionalização de uma cultura política que mostra uma crescente alienação e apatia dos cidadãos em relação à política. Esse comportamento tem sua origem na percepção dos cidadãos de que as autoridades públicas não podem ser confiadas, produzindo uma democracia inercial com baixos níveis de capital social. O objetivo deste trabalho é examinar a relação entre as práticas de corrupção pelas autoridades eleitas com a estruturação de uma cultura política defeituosa no Brasil. A hipótese de trabalho é de que casos graves de corrupção institucionalizada são possíveis em virtude dos laços sociais invisíveis criados entre as autoridades públicas. Neste sentido, o capital social, de natureza negativa constrange avanços substantivos na democracia brasileira.
Palavras-chaveCorrupção; Brasil; Cultura Política; Capital Social Negativo.
| Marcello Baquero
IntroductionWhen Brazilian politics is analyzed, the word corruption invariable emerges as a relevant factor. According to the Corruption Index of International Transparency, Brazil ranked from 2012 to 2014 in the 69th position out of 175 countries (TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL, 2014). It is not surprising then that corruption and politics directly correlate, influencing government performance and consequently eroding democratic principles and aggravating the chronic problems of poverty and social inequality. Research (LATINOBARÓMETRO, 2005(LATINOBARÓMETRO, -2010 has consistently shown that Brazilians believe that governments are unresponsive to their needs and they frequently hold politics and politicians in low esteem. Thus, distrust in government and politicians are prominent. This situation has placed the theme of unveiling citizen´s attitudes and behavior related to public official's practice of corruption as a priority in the agenda of political scientists. Corruption can foster a "culture of distrust" that diminishes confidence in political institutions...