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Can’t control/won’t control: opportunities and deterrents for local urban corruption in Lanzarote

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Abstract

Lanzarote is the most eastern island of the Canary archipelago (Spain). An important touristic resort, it was a pioneer territory in the fight against land speculation and was distinguished as a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1993. Despite this, recent police and court investigations have shown the existence of illegalities and corruption in the granting of building licenses in two of the most touristic municipalities, Yaiza and Teguise. The article examines the opportunities for urban corruption and the deterrents in place at the local level in Lanzarote between 1998 and 2006. It shows that corruption derived not only from an inadequate formal incentive structure, but also from the prevalence of certain expectations contrary to the common good and from the absence of “principled principals” willing to ensure that agents acting on their behalf did not engage in corruption.

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Notes

  1. A housing unit refers to a house, an apartment, a room or group of rooms that is occupied (or if vacant, is intended for occupancy) as separate living quarters.

  2. The Secretary is a professional civil servant whose main responsibility is the control of legality in the local government.

  3. The target population is the total number of adult population resident and entitled to vote in Lanzarote, regardless of their nationality or citizenship. On 30 November 2001, this population equals 82.350 people. Individuals of the sample have been chosen randomly, and considering strata of gender and age. The size of the sample guarantees an adequate representation of different electoral profiles according to gender, age group and political affinity. The survey was administered by telephone, following a structured questionnaire.

  4. Report 12 March 2012 from the prosecutor office of Las Palmas to the investigative judge in Court number 2 of Arrecife. A summary of the content of this document can be found in [21].

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Acknowledgments

This research has been made possible thanks to two grants from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation awarded to the research projects CSO2008-03663/CPOL and CSO2012-32661. An earlier version of this text was presented at the XXII IPSA World Congress of Political Science, Research Committee on Political Finance and Political Corruption, Madrid. We are thankful to the participants and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful and constructive feedback.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Free University of Brussels (ULB), Brussels, Belgium

    Mónica García-Quesada

  2. University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain

    Fernando Jiménez

  3. King Juan Carlos University Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Manuel Villoria

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  1. Mónica García-Quesada
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  2. Fernando Jiménez
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  3. Manuel Villoria
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Correspondence to Mónica García-Quesada.

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García-Quesada, M., Jiménez, F. & Villoria, M. Can’t control/won’t control: opportunities and deterrents for local urban corruption in Lanzarote. Crime Law Soc Change 63, 1–20 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-014-9549-z

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