Explaining Corruption: A Routine ‘Business’ Activity?

The whole of this chapter is dedicated to the theoretical approach which falls under the umbrella of right realism because of its potential to explain acts of corruption even though this was not its intended purpose. As with the work of Wilson and Herrnstein (1985), Clarke (1980) and Cornish and Clarke (1986) discussed in Chap. 10, routine activity developed under the same social and political circumstances that sought to explain criminal behaviour. The focus here is mostly on the work of Cohen and Felson (1979) but, where relevant, reference is made to other sources.