Illiberal Public Preferences for Anti-Corruption
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When do citizens accept breaking the law to fight corruption? Frustration with ineffective institutions encourages demand for effective enforcement, but partisan loyalties can foster selective proceduralism: greater concern for legal safeguards for allies.
The presentation by Marko Klasnja draws on cross-national evidence, original surveys and embedded experiments in Argentina, Colombia, and Romania, alongside a natural experiment surrounding Romania’s controversial 2017 criminal-code reform.
Large shares of respondents endorse unlawful anti-corruption measures or are willing to trade democracy for effective anti-corruption efforts. In the experiments, procedural violations in anti-corruption investigations reduce support for punishment almost four times as much for allies as for others. This pattern primarily reflects protecting allies, which differences in perceived guilt or recognition of violations do not readily explain. The Romanian natural experiment provides similar evidence under real partisan stakes. These findings identify unequal commitment to procedural safeguards as a distinct form of group-based bias that can complicate public support for the rule of law even amid strong dissatisfaction with a corrupt status quo.
Marko Klasnja is the Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor at Georgetown University (SFS and Department of Government). His research on democratic accountability, corruption, charisma, and wealth in political representation appears in top journals—including the APSR, AJPS, and JOP—and in his book manuscript with Lucia Motolinia, Public Servants, Private Fortunes (under contract with Princeton University Press). Winner of the 2024 APSA Theda Skocpol Emerging Scholar Award, he earned his Ph.D. from NYU in 2015.
📅 November 13, 2026
⏰ 6:00 PM (GMT+4)
📍 3 Aram Khachatryan St., Yerevan + Online
Register here: https://share.forms.app/yerevancenterforinternat/public-lectures-oct-dec-2026
📷 Photo: Anti-government demonstration at Slavija Square, Belgrade, June 2025. (Djordje Kojadinovic / Reuters)
The presentation by Marko Klasnja draws on cross-national evidence, original surveys and embedded experiments in Argentina, Colombia, and Romania, alongside a natural experiment surrounding Romania’s controversial 2017 criminal-code reform.
Large shares of respondents endorse unlawful anti-corruption measures or are willing to trade democracy for effective anti-corruption efforts. In the experiments, procedural violations in anti-corruption investigations reduce support for punishment almost four times as much for allies as for others. This pattern primarily reflects protecting allies, which differences in perceived guilt or recognition of violations do not readily explain. The Romanian natural experiment provides similar evidence under real partisan stakes. These findings identify unequal commitment to procedural safeguards as a distinct form of group-based bias that can complicate public support for the rule of law even amid strong dissatisfaction with a corrupt status quo.
Marko Klasnja is the Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor at Georgetown University (SFS and Department of Government). His research on democratic accountability, corruption, charisma, and wealth in political representation appears in top journals—including the APSR, AJPS, and JOP—and in his book manuscript with Lucia Motolinia, Public Servants, Private Fortunes (under contract with Princeton University Press). Winner of the 2024 APSA Theda Skocpol Emerging Scholar Award, he earned his Ph.D. from NYU in 2015.
📅 November 13, 2026
⏰ 6:00 PM (GMT+4)
📍 3 Aram Khachatryan St., Yerevan + Online
Register here: https://share.forms.app/yerevancenterforinternat/public-lectures-oct-dec-2026
📷 Photo: Anti-government demonstration at Slavija Square, Belgrade, June 2025. (Djordje Kojadinovic / Reuters)
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Where is it happening?
3 Aram Khachatryan, 0033 Yerevan, Armenia, Արամ Խաչատրյան փողոց 33, Երեւան, Հայաստան, Yerevan, Armenia
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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Host or PublisherYerevan Center for International Education - YCIE
