Institutional Corruption and the Collective Goods Trap; a Philosophical Exploration

Presently, institutional corruption has become an urgent matter with potentially grave effects on the future of our societies. Numerous academics have developed distinct theories of institutional corruption; one of the most prominent and recognized philosophical accounts is Seamus Miller’s causal theory of institutional corruption. Within his theory, Miller provides a comprehensive framework of institutional corruption. However, Miller only goes as far as to identify prominent forms and cases of institutional corruption within specific settings; he does not provide a theoretically normative account of the possible effects of institutional corruption on society. Hence, this paper implements Miller´s theory to present the Collective Goods Trap (CGT), a theoretically normative and causal exploration of the possible societal effects of institutional corruption within governmental institutions.