The Paths of Corruption in Brazilian Municipalities: Where They Come from and Where They Are Going

This chapter seeks to contribute to expanding knowledge about corruption at the local government level in Brazil. Using the Corruption Consolidation Framework (CCF), we advance an explanatory model that assumes that common variables used to measure and detect corruption in subnational governments are often useless. The work shows how corruption at the municipal level is a multifaceted process that is organized through several instruments that coexist simultaneously. What draws attention, based on the research carried out on the Brazilian case, is how such a complex environment as the one created by the practice of corruption manages to coordinate different forms of action. Corrupt schemes develop sophisticated forms of organization that survive and update themselves to continue acting under the radar. The various mechanisms that were identified show how the logic of corruption manages to be agile to avoid being discovered and seems to be ahead of inspection and control instruments. Studies on corruption in the field of research on local power are still starting. The case study on Brazil shows how deeply rooted this process is in public administration.