Accounting for the bad apples: the EU's impact on national corruption before and after accession

Abstract

ABSTRACTWhen states with limited evidence in their history to suggest that they are committed to good governance join a democratic international organization (IO), to what extent do they respect IO requirements? Focusing on the European Union (EU) and its Central and Eastern European members, this contribution presents the first systematic analysis based on longitudinal data in the existing literature suggesting that control of corruption in these countries has significantly weakened after accession. The findings suggest that the EU's political leverage (i.e., its ability to offer electoral incentives to opposition parties in national legislatures and, hence, mobilize them to pressure governments to deliver reforms) is a key determinant of the change in state performance. As political leverage weakens substantially following accession, governments favoring economic policies prone to corruption help account for the negative change in control of corruption.