What do we have to learn from the Ancient Greeks when it comes to thinking about the corruption of our own political system? Since corruption doesn’t seem to go away simply by electing different leaders, might it be fixed by rethinking our constitutional foundations? And what did Machiavelli mean when he said that “an evil-disposed citizen cannot effect any changes for the worse in a republic, unless it be already corrupt”?
Camila Vergara is a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University in New York, and the author of Systemic Corruption: Constitutional Ideas for an Anti-Oligarchic Society. In her book, Camila argues that our current understanding of corruption as a moral and legal failure that concerns individual bad actors is too narrow, obstructing a much richer understanding of the corruption of government as a systemic problem.
This podcast is created in partnership with The Philosopher, the UK’s longest running public philosophy journal. The Spring Issue of The Philosopher is out, tackling a timeless and timely topic, the relationship between Authority and Knowledge. To order your copy visit: https://www.thephilosopher1923.org
Artwork by Nick Halliday