The Effect of Public Perceptions of Corruption on System Support: The Case of Sweden

Abstract

Traditionally, Sweden is viewed as a country where corruption and abuse of power for personal gains have been regarded as rare exceptions. Accordingly, Sweden is consistently found at the top in various international indices of corruption. In recent years, however, several instances of corruption and power abuse have been exposed in the media, and surveys have shown that large shares of Swedish citizens harbour perceptions that corruption is not uncommon among politicians and public officials. Drawing on recent survey data, two empirical questions are being investigated. First, to what extent do Swedish citizens believe that corruption constitutes a serious problem? Secondly, how do citizens’ evaluations of the extent of public corruption affect support for the performance of the democratic system? Approaching the issue from a comparative Nordic perspective, data indicates that Swedish citizens are considerably more prone to believe that politicians and public officials are corrupt and act non-impartially than their Nordic counterparts. The analysis also suggests that such perceptions constitute an important determinant of public support for the performance of the political system. Thus, even in a least likely case of corruption, such as Sweden, growing public concerns about the extent of corruption has a potential to negatively affect the legitimacy of the democratic system.