Law and Politics Commons^™

Popular Rogues: Citizen Opinion About Political Corruption, Darrell M. West, Katherine Stewart

New England Journal of Public Policy

Trust in the honesty of public officials is a crucial condition for stable democratic systems. Yet despite the presumed centrality of honesty in government, there has been a long tradition of “popular rogues” who are considered dishonest and corrupt, but retain popularity for their strong and effective leadership. In this paper, we look at the phenomenon of popular rogues using the case of the former Mayor Buddy Cianci of Providence, Rhode Island. With data from two statewide Rhode Island opinion surveys (one before the trial and the other at its end), we present a “teeter-totter” model of public opinion whereby …