Corruption in Britain c.1550-1850

我的项目是写英国近代以前的腐败史，从十六世纪宗教改革到十九世纪改革。由此产生的专著（我的目标是在澳大利亚人权委员会资助期间完成一半）将是第一个这样的概述。尽管大多数对腐败的分析都是由政治学家或经济学家做出的，他们几乎只关注现代或当代世界，但我的工作将增加一个重要的、被忽视的历史视角。在16世纪末、17世纪、18世纪末和世纪初，英国人对腐败的忧虑是普遍的。政治、经济、宗教、道德、性、帝国和语言腐败交织在一起，形成了一个广泛而有争议的概念。通过对这一概念三个多世纪的考察，我可以证明，在实践和话语中，腐败从一个占主导地位的宗教概念（腐败是罪）转变为一个占主导地位的政治和金融概念，这是一个公认的现代概念。本书将概述导致这一变化的十个关键过程。首先，新教改革塑造了人们对天主教腐败的看法，也塑造了英国国教中神职人员世俗化的看法。其次，道德改革运动产生了道德框架，挑战并重新解释了公认的腐败行为。第三，财政-军事国家的崛起使诱人的和前所未有的资源（金钱和办公室）可用;第四，帝国的收购导致了不同文化的对抗，以及一种帝国主义有利可图但也会腐蚀母国的感觉。第五，人们对送礼、庇护、友谊和任职的态度发生了变化，从而改变了对腐败行为的定义。第六，媒体的兴起使揭露腐败（通常与财政、政治和性丑闻有关）和利用腐败指控作为对付竞争对手和敌人的工具变得更加容易。第七，打击腐败成为文学和视觉文化的重要创作力量。第八，人们对自身利益、奢侈品和财富之间关系的态度不断变化，导致人们越来越相信市场力量是经济行为的监管者。第九，党派之争和社会变革给被视为腐败的过时选举制度带来了压力。第十，社会对抗加剧了一种压迫性的腐败和道德缺失的“制度”感，无论是在贵族还是下层。因此，我的项目将腐败的兴起和改革与国家、宗教、经济、文化和社会的根本变化联系起来，但重要的是，也考察了腐败的看法、话语和定义是如何经常受到争议的：腐败往往是旁观者的眼睛。我的目标是恢复一个历史的维度，以目前的辩论，并有助于跨学科的讨论，涉及政治学家，经济学家，文学和媒体的学者。虽然这将是一项学术研究，但它也将引起更广泛的公众的兴趣。今天，关于赞助、亲属关系、友谊网络、奖励和送礼的适当界限的辩论仍在继续，发达国家和发展中国家对滥用职务和地位的问题普遍感到关切。事实上，腐败是当代最紧迫的问题之一，无论是在英国还是在亚洲，俄罗斯，中国，南美和其他地方。因此，该项目的一个内在组成部分是向公众提供腐败的历史，既通过一本以通俗易懂的风格撰写的专著，也通过为领先的反腐败组织透明国际出版的政策导向出版物，该出版物将出版我的研究结果摘要。研究领导活动还将包括与广播和电视制片人合作。

My project is to write the history of corruption in pre-modern Britain, from the sixteenth century Reformation to nineteenth century Reform. The resulting monograph (I would aim to have half of it completed within the AHRC funded period) will be the first such overview. Whereas most analyses of corruption are made by political scientists or economists who focus almost exclusively on the modern or contemporary world, my work will add an important and neglected historical perspective. In late sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth century Britain anxieties about corruption were pervasive. Political, economic, religious, moral, sexual, imperial and linguistic corruption intertwined to form a wide-ranging and contested concept. Examining this concept over three centuries enables me to demonstrate the shift, in practice as well as discourse, from a predominantly religious notion (corruption as sin) to a predominantly political and financial one that is recognisably modern. The book will outline ten key processes leading to this change. First, the Protestant reformation shaped perceptions of catholic corruption but also of clerical worldliness in the Church of England. Second, campaigns for moral reform resulted in ethical frameworks that challenged and re-interpreted accepted behaviours as corrupt. Third, the rise of the fiscal-military state made tempting and unprecedented amounts of resources (money and offices) available; fourth, the acquisition of an empire resulted in a confrontation with different cultures and a sense that imperialism was profitable but also corrupting of the mother country. Fifth, changes in attitudes to gift-giving, patronage, friendship and office-holding shaped changing definitions of what constituted corrupt behaviour. Sixth, the rise of the press made it easier both to expose corruption (often linking fiscal, political and sexual scandal) but also to use the allegation of corruption as a tool against rivals and enemies. Seventh, attacking corruption became an important creative force for literature and visual culture. Eighth, evolving attitudes about the relationship between self-interest, luxury and wealth led to a growing confidence in market forces as regulators of economic behaviour. Ninth, partisan rivalry and social change put pressure on an antiquated electoral system perceived as corrupt. Tenth, social antagonisms sharpened a sense of an oppressive 'system' of corruption and of moral inadequacy, both in the aristocracy and the lower sorts.My project thus relates the rise and reform of corruption to fundamental changes in the state, religion, economy, culture and society but, importantly, also examines how perceptions, discourses and definitions of corruption were frequently contested: corruption was often in the eye of the beholder.My aim is to restore a historical dimension to current debates and contribute to an interdisciplinary discussion that involves political scientists, economists, and scholars of literature and the media. Although this will be an academic study it will also be of interest to a wider public. Debates about the proper boundaries of patronage, kinship, friendship networks, rewards and gift-giving persist today and there is widespread concern, both in the developed and developing world, about the abuse of office and status. Indeed, corruption is one of the most pressing of contemporary issues, both in the UK and in Asia, Russia, China, South America and elsewhere. An intrinsic part of the project is thus to make the history of corruption available to the public, both through a monograph that is written in an accessible style but also through a policy-oriented publication for the leading anti-corruption organisation, Transparency International, which will publish a summary of my research findings. Research leadership activity will also include working with a radio and TV producer.