4.7 Article

Universality of political corruption networks

Journal

SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
Volume 12, Issue 1, Pages -

Publisher

NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-10909-2

Keywords

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Funding

  1. Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES-PROCAD-SPCF Grant ) [88881.516220/2020-01]
  2. Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq-Grants) [407690/2018-2, 303121/2018-1, 304634/2020-4, 303533/2021-8]
  3. Slovenian Research Agency [J1-2457, P1-0403]

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This study investigated corruption networks related to political scandals in Spain and Brazil and found that these networks shared common structural and dynamical properties. The authors also proposed a simple model that demonstrated how corruption networks operate near a critical recidivism rate.
Corruption crimes demand highly coordinated actions among criminal agents to succeed. But research dedicated to corruption networks is still in its infancy and indeed little is known about the properties of these networks. Here we present a comprehensive investigation of corruption networks related to political scandals in Spain and Brazil over nearly three decades. We show that corruption networks of both countries share universal structural and dynamical properties, including similar degree distributions, clustering and assortativity coefficients, modular structure, and a growth process that is marked by the coalescence of network components due to a few recidivist criminals. We propose a simple model that not only reproduces these empirical properties but reveals also that corruption networks operate near a critical recidivism rate below which the network is entirely fragmented and above which it is overly connected. Our research thus indicates that actions focused on decreasing corruption recidivism may substantially mitigate this type of organized crime.

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