While it is common knowledge that corruption is detrimental to all types of political society, it is often associated solely with developing countries. Its presence in Western countries, particularly in Europe, is only rarely discussed. Moreover, acting on corruption as an international problem remains atypical, hence the significance of the European Union’s attempts to tackle corruption in the last few years.
My research examines the regulation put in place by the EU, as well as its efficacy (or lack thereof). Another area of investigation is the extent to which different EU countries are able to manage corruption internally and in relation to the EU. For this, I chose a representative sample of member states: Romania, Spain and France. Jointly, they provide a comprehensive representation of the governance of corruption within the EU, since the rationale for selecting these countries is influenced by the core-periphery dynamics present in the EU; France is in the core, Romania is in the periphery, and Spain, it can be argued, is in the semi-periphery.
