Abstract
Physics has a long tradition of laying rigorous quantitative foundations for social phenomena. Here, we up the ante for physics' forays into the territory of social sciences by (i) empirically documenting a tipping point in the relationship between democratic norms and corruption suppression, and then (ii) demonstrating how such a tipping point emerges from a micro-scale mechanistic model of spin dynamics in a complex network. Specifically, the tipping point in the relationship between democratic norms and corruption suppression is such that democratization has little effect on suppressing corruption below a critical threshold, but a large effect above the threshold. The micro-scale model of spin dynamics underpins this phenomenon by reinterpreting spins in terms of unbiased (i.e. altruistic) and biased (i.e. parochial) other-regarding behaviour, as well as the corresponding voting preferences. Under weak democratic norms, dense social connections of parochialists enable coercing enough opportunist voters to vote in favour of perpetuating parochial in-group bias. Society may, however, strengthen democratic norms in a rapid turn of events during which opportunists adopt altruism and vote to subdue bias. The emerging model outcome at the societal scale thus mirrors the data, implying that democracy either perpetuates or suppresses corruption depending on the prevailing democratic norms.
Highlights
There is a long-standing interest in social phenomena among physicists [1,2,3], especially when it comes to the evolution of human cooperation [4,5,6]
As might be expected, corruption suppression is positively associated with stronger democratic norms, and that, below a certain threshold, the positive association is much weaker than that above the threshold
A critical threshold, improving democratic norms has only a marginal effect on corruption suppression, but the effect is substantial above the threshold
Summary
There is a long-standing interest in social phenomena among physicists [1,2,3], especially when it comes to the evolution of human cooperation [4,5,6]. Inconclusive results pertain to democracy and economic growth; again, earlier studies claim no relationship between political rights and growth [24], but a more recent work demonstrates that democracy has a definitive positive effect on growth in the long run [25]. When it comes to direct ties between democracy and corruption, an analysis of a measure of democracy consolidation and the World Bank’s measure of corruption suggests an inverted-U relationship between the two over time [26]. We will have demonstrated that the democracy–corruption relationship is one of love and hate, that is, whether democracy perpetuates or suppresses corruption depends on the strength of the currently prevailing democratic norms
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