tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/political-scandal-33761/articlesPolitical scandal – The Conversation2024-03-22T12:30:59Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2244782024-03-22T12:30:59Z2024-03-22T12:30:59ZBreakaway parties threaten to disrupt South Korea’s two-party system – can they also end parliamentary gridlock?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582322/original/file-20240316-30-z280lu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3994%2C2646&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol waving goodbye to his popularity?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/south-koreas-president-yoon-suk-yeol-and-his-wife-kim-keon-news-photo/1793664795?adppopup=true">Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Contemporary South Korean politics has traditionally been dominated by just two main parties – in <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1962968">common with many other countries</a> with strong presidential systems. But that could soon change.</p>
<p>Recent <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2024/02/south-korea-in-political-disarray-ahead-of-the-april-parliamentary-elections/#:%7E:text=The%20Yoon%20administration%20and%20the,defeat%20in%20Seoul%20last%20October.">voter discontent</a> is creating opportunities for smaller political parties in the upcoming parliamentary election on April 10, 2024. </p>
<p>Heading into that vote, the two main parties – President Yoon Suk Yeol’s People Power Party and the opposition Democratic Party – between them hold 270 seats in the 300-member parliament. But both parties are grappling with internal struggles and political controversies that are fueling the prospect of new, breakaway parties making gains. </p>
<p>The result could be a multi-party legislature. As a <a href="https://www.ngu.edu/faculty/jong-eun-lee">political scientist</a> with a focus on East Asia and international affairs, I believe that outcome has the potential of transforming the country’s domestic and international agenda. </p>
<h2>Parliamentary gridlock</h2>
<p>Polling suggests that South Koreans haven’t been happy with the performance of their politicians for years, with one 2022 survey putting <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1455207/south-korea-trust-in-the-national-parliament/">trust in the national assembly at just 24%</a>. Events since then are unlikely to have improved confidence in either main party.</p>
<p>Since Yoon being elected president in 2022, his legislative agenda has been met with <a href="https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20230509000725">resistance</a> by the opposition-controlled National Assembly. His <a href="https://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=345281">plans for reforming</a> the country’s education, pension and labor systems have stalled as a result. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Yoon has <a href="https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20240130000616">vetoed multiple bills</a> passed by the National Assembly, such as the <a href="https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20231201001653315">“yellow envelope” law</a>, which limits companies’ lawsuits for damage claims over labor union disputes, and legislation calling for special probes into the <a href="https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20240130003053315">crowd crush</a> inside Seoul’s Itaewon district during Halloween weekend in 2022 that resulted in hundreds of deaths and injuries.</p>
<p>On foreign policy, the opposition Democratic Party has faulted the <a href="https://theconversation.com/president-yoon-is-lauded-in-west-for-embracing-japan-in-south-korea-it-fits-a-conservative-agenda-that-is-proving-less-popular-220898">Yoon government’s pursuit of increased security ties</a> with Japan in the face of continued bilateral tensions over Japan’s past colonial history in Korea. </p>
<p>Specifically, the opposition criticized a <a href="https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/03/02/national/politics/lee-jaemyung-yoon-suk-yeol-wartime-labor/20230302094834562.html">bilateral deal</a> on compensation for the victims of forced wartime labor in Korea, and the Yoon government’s acceptance of Japan’s release of wastewater from the <a href="https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/politics-government/20230819-130723/">Fukushima nuclear plant</a> into the Pacific Ocean.</p>
<p>Last fall, partly as protest against the president’s foreign policy and in a bid to overhaul the government’s cabinet, the National Assembly passed a nonbinding <a href="https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2023-09-21/national/politics/First-noconfidence-motion-against-prime-minister-passes/1875180#:%7E:text=The%20National%20Assembly%20passed%20a,of%20an%20incumbent%20prime%20minister">no-confidence motion</a> against Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, though Yoon refused to dismiss his premier.</p>
<p>The net result of the political gridlock is that both the Yoon government and the Democratic Party face high levels of <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2024/02/113_366062.html">public disapproval</a>. Yoon’s approval rating <a href="https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20240212050041">has stagnated</a> below 40%, and the majority of voters have expressed an intention to <a href="https://www.straightnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=246087">hold his government accountable in the upcoming election</a> by supporting opposition parties.</p>
<p>However, the Democratic Party has failed to capitalize on Yoon’s unpopularity, due to similar public <a href="https://www.kukinews.com/newsView/kuk202312120252">disapproval toward the party’s leader, Lee Jae-myung</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="South Korean opposition party members hold signs at a rally." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582323/original/file-20240316-28-m3dlfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582323/original/file-20240316-28-m3dlfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582323/original/file-20240316-28-m3dlfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582323/original/file-20240316-28-m3dlfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582323/original/file-20240316-28-m3dlfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582323/original/file-20240316-28-m3dlfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582323/original/file-20240316-28-m3dlfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lee Jae-myung, center, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, holds a banner during a rally opposing Japan’s discharge of treated radioactive water into the ocean on Aug. 25, 2023, in Seoul, South Korea.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/lee-jae-myung-leader-of-the-main-opposition-democratic-news-photo/1622143449?adppopup=true">Chris Jung/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Intraparty factions</h2>
<p>South Korea’s two main parties have frequently experienced internal feuds among factions supportive and opposed to party leadership. In recent months, such factions opposed to both Yoon and Lee’s leadership have bolted from their respective parties.</p>
<p>In January 2024, Lee Jun-Seok, former People Power Party chairman, started the <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2024/01/113_365883.html">New Reform Party</a> with party members <a href="https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20230228000730">who protested</a> the pro-Yoon faction’s seemingly cliquish party leadership. This “non-Yoon” faction has also <a href="https://m.hankookilbo.com/News/Read/A2023122807400000123">criticized</a> the <a href="https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-01-05/national/politics/Yoon-vetoes-special-counsel-bill-to-investigate-first-lady/1951960">president’s veto</a> of the special counsel bill to investigate allegations surrounding first lady Kim Geon-hee, which includes claims of violating <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/09/asia/south-korea-dior-bag-scandal-intl-hnk-dst/index.html">anti-graft laws</a> and involvement in <a href="https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20240105000202">stock price manipulation</a>.</p>
<p>The Democratic Party is facing a similar challenge. Also in January 2024, Lee Nak-yon, former prime minister under the previous Democratic government of President Moon Jae-in, started the New Future Party, criticizing his former party as having turned into a “<a href="https://www.donga.com/en/article/all/20240112/4678600/1">bulletproof shield</a>” for the unpopular leader Lee Jae-myung. Specifically, the “non Jae-myung” faction have criticized him for <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2023/10/amid-legal-troubles-lee-jae-myung-tightens-grip-on-south-koreas-opposition-party/">refusing to step down</a> despite being under criminal investigation on corruption charges.</p>
<h2>Opportunities for breakaway parties</h2>
<p>These new breakaway parties’ strategy is to take advantage of South Korea’s <a href="https://keia.org/the-peninsula/how-does-south-koreas-new-election-system-work/">mixed-member</a> proportional election system, which provides opportunities for smaller parties to win seats. To do so, they have been focusing efforts on building concentrated support among core groups of voters. </p>
<p>The New Reform Party <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2024/01/113_367977.html">has gained support</a> among younger conservative male voters critical of the older generation of conservative politicians close to Yoon. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the New Future Party <a href="https://www.m-i.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=1084200">retains some support</a> among traditional Democratic Party members, who feel disappointed with the direction of the party. Several Democratic legislators who claimed to <a href="https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20240307006351315">have been purged</a> by the party leadership have joined Lee Nak-yon, widening the schism within the main opposition party.</p>
<h2>Potential impact</h2>
<p>The latest polls <a href="https://www.straightnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=246459">indicate a tight race</a> between the People Power Party and the Democratic Party, with a 37.7% and 36.9% share of the vote, respectively. If the breakaway parties <a href="https://www.m-i.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=1102927">win even a small number of seats</a>, the result could be a “hung parliament,” in which neither main party can form a single-party majority.</p>
<p>That would leave smaller parties with huge legislative leverage.</p>
<p>The New Reform Party is more likely to <a href="https://world.kbs.co.kr/service/news_view.htm?lang=e&id=Po&Seq_Code=183112">partner</a> with the Yoon government on policy agendas – despite <a href="https://www.hani.co.kr/arti/politics/politics_general/1114142.html">personal antipathy</a> between Yoon and Lee Jun-Seok. On foreign policy, New Reform Party members have <a href="https://cbiz.chosun.com/svc/bulletin/bulletin_art.html?contid=2023031801098">expressed support</a> for pragmatic relations with Japan and have warned against excessive anti-Japan nationalist rhetoric in domestic politics. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman at political rally shakes her fist in the air." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582324/original/file-20240316-18-tcp90i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582324/original/file-20240316-18-tcp90i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582324/original/file-20240316-18-tcp90i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582324/original/file-20240316-18-tcp90i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582324/original/file-20240316-18-tcp90i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582324/original/file-20240316-18-tcp90i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582324/original/file-20240316-18-tcp90i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A move to abolish a gender equality ministry has reemerged as a key issue ahead of parliamentary elections.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SouthKoreaInternationalWomensDay/bba9a2ccfd554c87b031a013fbb08189/photo?Query=south%20korea%20gender&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=91&currentItemNo=33">AP Photo/Lee Jin-man</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On social and economic policies, the New Reform Party’s platform likewise aligns with the Yoon government in supporting the expansion of South Korea’s <a href="https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20240205059800001">semiconductor industry</a> and abolishing the <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2024/02/113_369380.html">Ministry of Gender Equality</a>. </p>
<p>Particularly on gender issues, the New Reform Party could push the Yoon government further toward positions that appeal to <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www2/common/viewpage.asp?newsIdx=367977&categoryCode=113">younger male conservative voters</a>, such as by introducing female military service. At present, only men are subject to South Korea’s mandatory military conscription, a policy that many younger South Korean men perceive as discrimination. </p>
<p>Lee Nak-yon’s New Future Party is <a href="https://www.businesspost.co.kr/BP?command=article_view&num=315985">more critical</a> of the Yoon government’s domestic and foreign policies. However, with its <a href="https://www.inews24.com/view/1695770">platform to end</a> two-party gridlock, the New Future Party could also seek a role as <a href="https://www.donga.com/news/Politics/article/all/20240226/123693471/1">an arbitrator</a> over contentious policy issues.</p>
<p>The new parties could also support the opposition Democratic Party in pressuring the Yoon government to be more accountable. Specifically, Yoon could face increased demands to approve investigations on the allegations surrounding the first lady and to solicit opposition parties’ consent for future cabinet nominations.</p>
<p>It is still uncertain how well the breakaway parties will perform in the upcoming election. And they face competition from <a href="https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20240312050698">another new party</a>, the National Innovation Party, that is politically aligned with the Democratic Party. </p>
<p>One recent election in East Asia will give <a href="https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/018/0005687178">these new parties encouragement</a>: Taiwan’s <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2024/02/kmts-han-kuo-yu-is-taiwans-new-legislative-speaker/">legislative election</a> in January saw a new third party become kingmaker in the legislative assembly.</p>
<p>If any of the new South Korean parties are able to emerge from the election as a parliamentary kingmaker, it would represent a crack in the country’s two-party system and could free up the gridlock that has dogged parliamentary politics in recent years.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224478/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jong Eun Lee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Heading into a parliamentary vote, there is very little gap between the ruling People Power Party and opposition Democratic Party – raising the prospect of a smaller party emerging as kingmaker.Jong Eun Lee, Assistant Professor, North Greenville UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2244842024-03-20T12:22:46Z2024-03-20T12:22:46ZNixon declared Americans deserved to know ‘whether their president is a crook’ – Trump says the opposite<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578092/original/file-20240226-18-9gxbhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C34%2C1518%2C839&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Richard Nixon and Donald Trump may seem similar, but they have key differences.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Official White House portraits</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the four criminal trials of Donald Trump was slated to start in the next few days, but has been <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/03/15/1238915986/trump-trial-new-york-delay-judge-stormy-daniels">delayed on procedural grounds</a>. There was a time when it appeared <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/18/nyregion/trump-indictments-trial-2024-election.html">possible all of his trials could happen</a> before the November election. Now <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/24055503/trump-trials-fani-willis-jack-smith-alvin-bragg">it is unclear whether even one</a> will begin in time. As a result, on Election Day, the voting public may not know a key fact about candidate Trump: whether a jury has found him guilty of one or more crimes.</p>
<p>Like Trump, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/frenzy/nixon.htm">scandal followed Richard Nixon</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/articles/101072-1.htm">throughout his political career</a>. And, like Trump, Nixon always managed to claw his way back into the political forefront.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/articles/080974-3.htm">Until he didn’t</a>.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ow6DhIQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">scholar of American politics and public opinion</a>, I believe the <a href="https://www.bu.edu/articles/2020/trump-and-nixon-separated-at-birth/">parallels between Trump and Nixon</a> are clear. </p>
<p>Yet there is a telling difference between the two men. Nixon acknowledged the fundamental importance of accountability in a democracy. He went so far as to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/articles/111873-1.htm">famously declare</a> – during the height of the Watergate scandal – that “people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook.”</p>
<p>Trump, on the other hand, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/trump-not-immune-election-subversion-charges-us-appeals-court-rules-2024-02-06/">outright rejects the assertion</a> that the American people should be able to find out what the justice system says about whether a prospective president is a crook.</p>
<p>In fact, he has gone so far as to assert that the “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/18/politics/trump-presidential-immunity/index.html">president of the United States must have full immunity</a>, without which it would be impossible for him/her to properly function.”</p>
<p>Nixon made a similar statement in 1977, telling British journalist David Frost in 1977 that “<a href="https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/transcript-of-david-frosts-interview-with-richard-nixon/">when the president does it … that means that it is not illegal</a>.” But Nixon hastened to add a crucial caveat that he was talking about war powers and national security, and specifically emphasized that he did not “mean to suggest the president is above the law.” </p>
<p>Afterward, Nixon responded to the backlash from the interview, writing a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1977/06/05/president-isnt-above-the-law-nixon-insists/71923838-492f-49d7-921f-0add6743501e/">long-winded clarification</a> that reiterated that the president is not above the law. </p>
<h2>Similar, but quite different</h2>
<p>Superficially, Nixon and Trump’s brands of politics share a lot of similarities. </p>
<p>Both men positioned themselves against allegedly crooked liberal elites and used the fact that they were being investigated as evidence that the people in power were trying to silence them and people like them. </p>
<p>As far back as 1952, Nixon was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/frenzy/nixon.htm">accused of keeping a secret stash of donor funds</a> when he was a U.S. senator and a candidate for vice president. His fate as Dwight D. Eisenhower’s running mate in that year’s presidential election looked increasingly uncertain.</p>
<p>His instinct was to go public. On live TV, in what came to be known as the “<a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/eisenhower-checkers/">Checkers speech</a>,” Nixon took his case directly to the American people. He positioned himself – an ordinary American with two mortgages, a bank loan and a loan from his parents – against the political elite. That elite, Nixon said, believed only rich men should be in politics, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/politicians-have-long-used-the-forgotten-man-to-win-elections-103570">Nixon was just a regular guy</a>.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LCkPXzkne-U?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Excerpts from Nixon’s ‘Checkers’ speech saying he had not profited personally from public service. The speech is nicknamed for the dog that was the one gift from supporters he planned to keep.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More than two decades later, Nixon, again facing disgrace, took his case to the public. The Watergate scandal, in which <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2002/05/31/AR2005111001227.html">Republican operatives sought to secretly listen in on Democratic Party business</a>, broke in the summer of 1972. Even before that year’s election, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/fbi-finds-nixon-aides-sabotaged-democrats/2012/06/06/gJQAoHIJJV_story.html">Nixon’s White House aides</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bug-suspect-got-campaign-funds/2012/06/06/gJQAyTjKJV_story.html">his campaign</a> were linked to the effort. Nixon went on to <a href="https://www.270towin.com/1972_Election/">win every state but Massachusetts</a> in the Electoral College.</p>
<p>His popularity <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/richard-m-nixon-public-approval">peaked at 67%</a> in late January 1973 following the inauguration for his second term. However, as the Watergate scandal unfolded, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/3-top-nixon-aides-kleindienst-out-president-accepts-full-responsibility-richardson-will-conduct-new-probe/2012/06/04/gJQAx7oFJV_story.html">Nixon’s personal involvement</a> in the spying and attempts to cover it up <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/articles/060373-1.htm">became increasingly clear</a> to the public. <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/richard-m-nixon-public-approval">His popularity plummeted</a>.</p>
<p>One year after a landslide Electoral College victory, only <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/richard-m-nixon-public-approval">27% of Americans</a> approved of the job Nixon was doing as president. In that context, Nixon made a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/articles/111873-1.htm">public plea of innocence and forthrightness</a>, declaring that the “people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook.” And he immediately followed that statement with a lie: “Well, I’m not a crook.”</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sh163n1lJ4M?wmode=transparent&start=26" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Richard Nixon acknowledges the importance of accountability in a democracy.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A contrast in support, and tactics</h2>
<p>Nixon’s instinct to make his case to the American people in the face of political peril emphasizes a key difference from Trump.</p>
<p>Throughout his first term, Nixon enjoyed substantially higher approval than Trump. <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/116677/presidential-approval-ratings-gallup-historical-statistics-trends.aspx">On average</a>, 56% of Americans approved of the job Nixon was doing in his first term, compared with only 41% for Trump. Liberal elites may have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/26/archives/drugs-case-for-legalizing-marijuana.html">decried Nixon’s claim</a> that he had the support of a “<a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/nixon-silent-majority/">silent majority</a>” at the time, but from a historical perspective, his popularity is undeniable.</p>
<p>Trump’s approval tells a different story and illustrates the differences in the breadth and depth of their support. In <a href="https://doi.org/10.25940/ROPER-31087813">February 1972</a>, 52% of Americans approved of the job Nixon was doing: 80% of Republicans, 51% of independents and 36% of Democrats. Compare that with Trump’s approval in <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/203198/presidential-approval-ratings-donald-trump.aspx">February 2020</a>: 47% overall approval, 92% approval among Republicans, 42% with independents and 8% with Democrats.</p>
<p>While <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/national/">most recent polls</a> show that Trump is leading in 2024’s apparent rematch of the 2020 election, he rarely eclipses the 50% threshold. Trump is president of a vocal minority, not the silent majority. Trump doesn’t have to appeal to Democrats, or the median voter for that matter, because he has the <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/01/23/464129029/donald-trump-i-could-shoot-somebody-and-i-wouldnt-lose-any-voters">undying support</a> of his faction. And the <a href="https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/a-brief-history-of-electoral-college-bias/">U.S. system of electing presidents</a> is biased in a way that means his vocal minority can deliver victory.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224484/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Spencer Goidel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The parallels between Trump and Nixon are abundantly clear. Yet even Nixon acknowledged the fundamental importance of accountability in a democracy.Spencer Goidel, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Auburn UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2168252024-01-03T20:27:05Z2024-01-03T20:27:05ZStorm clouds ahead: scandals that have rocked Australian politics<p>Australians could be forgiven for feeling weary of political scandals. The litany of them at the federal level in recent years has been fatiguing: Robodebt, allegations of rape and sexual harassment in Parliament House, former prime minister Scott Morrison’s secret ministries, sports rorts, ministerial affairs and bonk bans, and plenty more.</p>
<p>For reporters and pundits, scandals generate excitement and drama, something more novel than the tedium of day-to-day political processes. But even the most cursory glance at recent scandals – for example, the brouhaha over Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles’ <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-01/marles-defends-raaf-flights-taxpayer-spend/102316042">expensive taste for RAAF VIP flights</a> – reminds us that very few are unprecedented.</p>
<h2>Flying high</h2>
<p>Australians live on a big continent, and are acutely sensitive to the price of petrol and airfares. Consequently, the public and press have been quick to anger when politicians are caught misusing or abusing their taxpayer-funded travel entitlements.</p>
<p>Harold Holt learned this the hard way. In 1967, journalists and backbench senators began asking awkward questions about ministers’ use of VIP aircraft for personal purposes at the expense of the taxpayer. The prime minister – who was among the guilty – dodged questions and denied that any evidence existed, misleading parliament (and the public) along the way.</p>
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<p>But his new Senate leader, John Gorton, took a different approach, tabling all the hidden documents in the Senate. According to a <a href="https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/harold-holt">recent biography</a> of Holt, Gorton told him “public disquiet over any alleged secrecy would be much greater” than the anger at the actual offence itself. </p>
<p>In the end, no ministerial jobs were lost, but the upshot was that when Holt took his fateful swim at Cheviot beach, the popular (but, as it turned out, scandal-prone) Gorton would replace him.</p>
<p>Travel entitlements were a sensitive topic for later Liberal prime ministers, too. In his first term, John Howard faced <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/scandals-claim-seven-howard-ministers/iapshxlxk">many ministerial resignations</a>, two of them — Peter McGauran and John Sharp — for false travel entitlement claims, and a third, Administrative Services Minister David Jull, for not following “due process” when his office processed those entitlement claims.</p>
<p>Many will remember the furore about Speaker Bronwyn Bishop, who in 2015 chartered a helicopter from Melbourne to Geelong for a partisan fundraiser and charged taxpayers for the privilege. Faced with calls to apologise and repay the expense, she remained defiant until it was too late, her position no longer tenable. Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who had originally appointed his “political mother” Bishop to the role, found his position weakened too.</p>
<h2>Mining for misdemeanours</h2>
<p>It is one thing to abuse the “perks of the job”. It is another thing to be avowedly corrupt. But in truth, the history of corruption in Australia is extensive. In the colonial era, wealthy landholders and squatters sought to influence parliamentarians with monetary bribes. </p>
<p>In 1869, a Victorian parliamentary select committee found that pastoralists and investors, led by the highly influential squatter and speculator Hugh Glass, had engaged in “<a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/glass-hugh-3620">corrupt practices</a>”. Glass and his peers had kept a fund of money for bribing MPs during debates about land reform.</p>
<p>Corrupt colonial politicians used public funds on projects from which they would personally benefit. In the 1880s, Victoria’s railway minister Tommy Bent established a new line that would run through his own electorate, enhancing the value of his own land. “Everyone knew Bent was a crook,” historian Frank Bongiorno has <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Dreamers_and_Schemers/wph8EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=frank+bongiorno+dreamers+and+schemers&printsec=frontcover">recently suggested</a>, “and the newspapers called him one”.</p>
<p>There was nothing special about Victoria in terms of corruption. Queensland historians such as Lyndon Megarrity <a href="https://scholarly.info/book/robert-philp-and-the-politics-of-development/">have shown</a> that railway financiers used cash bribes to buy influence over railway legislation in the 19th century. That tradition of political impropriety was faithfully upheld in the 1970s and ‘80s by Joh Bjelke-Petersen, his Police Commissioner Terry Lewis, and a sprawling network of businessmen and developers.</p>
<p>At times, Queensland’s corruption scandals have had national consequences. In 1930, federal treasurer and former Queensland premier Ted Theodore was forced to resign, pending an inquiry into his financial affairs. Notably wealthy and often controversial, Theodore was accused of benefiting from the sale of Mungana Mines (in which he was a “silent partner”) to the Queensland government (of which he was then premier) for an artificially inflated price.</p>
<p>The timing of the scandal was critical. The state government launched its Royal Commission against Theodore just weeks before Labor won office in 1929. The report was handed down shortly before the new government’s first budget. At the height of the Great Depression, the federal treasurer had to stand aside in what the historian Joan Beaumont has recently called a “body blow” for the Scullin government. By the time he had cleared his name and returned to his post, Theodore has lost the chance to shape Australia’s response to the depression.</p>
<h2>Pork-barrelling</h2>
<p>Corruption is clearly unacceptable, but notoriously difficult to define. Is pork-barrelling – the art of directing public funds and grants to marginal electorates – a form of corruption? Much of it goes unpunished, but occasionally an egregious case arouses the public ire.</p>
<p>There have been, for instance, two “sports rorts” affairs in living memory. Ahead of the 1993 federal election, Sports Minister Ros Kelly oversaw $30 million of funding for sports, recreational and community facilities.</p>
<p>Questions were later asked about the skewed distribution of the funding toward Labor marginal seats. When the auditor-general and a parliamentary committee investigated, the results spelled the end of Kelly’s tenure. Memorably, Kelly was accused of making decisions not through the usual mechanisms, but on a whiteboard in her office.</p>
<p>More recently, sports rorts 2.0 – in which Bridget McKenzie, a senior minister in the Morrison government, resigned over a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/may/19/the-sports-rorts-saga-sport-rort-grants-stench-that-clung-to-the-coalition">large grant to a shooting club</a> of which she was an undisclosed member – seemed like history re-enacted on a larger scale. Timed for the 2019 election campaign, the Coalition’s sports and recreation grants were entirely contradictory to the merit-based advice the minister had received.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-bridget-mckenzie-falls-but-for-the-lesser-of-her-political-sins-131011">View from The Hill: Bridget McKenzie falls – but for the lesser of her political sins</a>
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<h2>Grey areas</h2>
<p>Pork-barrelling and other misdemeanours are even more complicated when public questions are overlaid with private conduct.</p>
<p>In 2016, NSW Member for Wagga Wagga Daryl Maguire convinced the then treasurer Gladys Berejiklian to grant $5.5 million to a clay target shooting range in his electorate. The grant took place outside the usual channels, and the revelation that Maguire and Berejiklian had been intimately involved provided the final ingredient for a pork-barrelling and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-03/how-obscure-shooting-association-grant-brought-down-berejiklian/100507388">conflict of interest</a> scandal.</p>
<p>But sometimes, sex scandals are newsworthy for their own sake, public administration aside. In 1975, Deputy Prime Minister Jim Cairns and one of his staff, Junie Morosi, found themselves at the centre of a media scandal.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"963001143902130176"}"></div></p>
<p>When rumours emerged of an extramarital affair between the two, the media exposed the story in terms that highlighted Morosi’s physical appeal even as it censured the pair.</p>
<p>Cairns was damaged by the publicity around their affair. His friend and colleague Tom Uren later noted in <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Straight_Left/WJmvGAAACAAJ?hl=en">his autobiography</a> that there were many “irregular relationships” among the conservatives that “were not exposed in the press”.</p>
<p>Historically, though, conservatives had been fair game for sexual exposé. Accusations of marital infidelity and nepotism coloured many a conservative politician’s career in colonial times. Graham Berry, a colonial liberal in Victoria, resigned as treasurer in the face of a select committee inquiry into an earlier extramarital affair and possible bribery ensuring from it. As his <a href="https://publishing.monash.edu/product/democratic-adventurer/">recent biographer</a> Sean Scalmer put it, the inquiry was “a hammer blow” to this “would-be gentleman”.</p>
<p>Journalists have chosen when to conceal and when to reveal. When Barnaby Joyce’s extramarital affair with staffer Vikki Campion and their pregnancy were revealed in 2018, the media showed that they retain this power. Many waited until they had unimpeachable evidence, and could use Joyce’s rhetoric during the marriage equality plebiscite – in which Joyce had defended “traditional marriage” – as justification.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/welcome-to-the-new-old-moralism-how-the-medias-coverage-of-the-joyce-affair-harks-back-to-the-1950s-91919">Welcome to the new (old) moralism: how the media's coverage of the Joyce affair harks back to the 1950s</a>
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<h2>Why scandals matter</h2>
<p>Scandals matter because they illuminate the tensions that shape our political processes. The physical and social distance between electors and their MPs, the entitlements afforded to ministers to do their jobs, and the media’s discretion in deciding who and what becomes scandalous – are core features of our democratic system. They also involve blurred patterns of power and privilege.</p>
<p>A core pillar of responsible government is that ministers are accountable to parliament. When ministers mislead parliament – or in the case of Scott Morrison, do not even reveal to parliament their ministerial appointments – the most important constraint on executive power in Australia is undermined.</p>
<p>There have been many innovations in Australian politics in the hope of minimising corruption and avoiding scandal. In late 2023, for example, Independent MP Monique Ryan introduced a Private Members’ Bill to crack down on lobbying and making ministerial diaries publicly accessible. If passed, it will lift the lid on another grey area in Australian political misadventure.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216825/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua Black is affiliated with the Australian Historical Association, and the Whitlam Institute at WSU. </span></em></p>While we seem to have a steady stream of political scandals in Australia, many of them have been seen before, albeit in a different guise.Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2004252023-02-23T22:57:01Z2023-02-23T22:57:01ZThe news about Toronto Mayor John Tory’s affair destroyed his carefully cultivated public image<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512083/original/file-20230223-16-rkkg73.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C16%2C3573%2C2376&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">John Tory walks away from the Toronto City Hall podium on his last day in office on Feb. 17, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/the-news-about-toronto-mayor-john-tory-s-affair-destroyed-his-carefully-cultivated-public-image" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2023/02/10/a-serious-error-of-judgement-mayor-john-tory-had-relationship-with-staffer.html">The <em>Toronto Star</em> broke news</a> on Feb. 10 about Mayor John Tory’s extramarital affair with an employee in his office. An hour later, he had announced his resignation, and by the end of the following week, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toronto/video-toronto-mayor-john-tory-submits-formal-resignation-over-staffer-affair/">he was gone from the mayor’s office</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.macleans.ca/society/life/8-canadian-political-sex-scandals-and-one-maybe/">Sex scandals are nothing new in the world of politics</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2146-3">Many politicians have survived such scandals and held onto their jobs</a>. These types of scandals are usually considered to be legal, minor and mostly personal indiscretions that don’t impact the ability of government officials to do their jobs.</p>
<p>What is interesting about the Tory case is how drastic and sudden the impact of the affair was. Why did the reports of Tory’s affair have such a shocking and impactful effect on his leadership? Why, in other words, has it brought an end to the now former mayor’s life as a politician? </p>
<h2>Tory’s public image</h2>
<p>Tory, while not commanding an enthusiastic following, was certainly not an unpopular politician at the time of his resignation. Just four months earlier, Tory <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-mayoral-election-results-1.6624984">easily won re-election as mayor</a>. He is the only mayor of Toronto to receive a third consecutive term since the <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/01/01/19-years-ago-torontos-six-boroughs-amalgamated.html">amalgamation of Toronto’s six boroughs</a>.</p>
<p>In both the 2018 and 2022 contests, Tory’s hold on power was demonstrated by the fact that, while having many detractors, no popular or united oppositional movement provided any sort of genuine challenge to his leadership.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man in a suit speaks from behind a podium. Behind him is a giant screen that says 'John Tory Mayor Working for You'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512073/original/file-20230223-17-8zi5f.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512073/original/file-20230223-17-8zi5f.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512073/original/file-20230223-17-8zi5f.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512073/original/file-20230223-17-8zi5f.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512073/original/file-20230223-17-8zi5f.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512073/original/file-20230223-17-8zi5f.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512073/original/file-20230223-17-8zi5f.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">John Tory speaks after winning a third term as the mayor of Toronto at his campaign headquarters on Oct. 24, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
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<p>Academic research has shown that a large part of leadership is transactional, meaning that leaders are given their positions of authority because they can present aspects of their personal characteristics to <a href="https://goal-lab.psych.umn.edu/orgpsych/2020/readings/13.%20Leadership/Lord,%20Day,%20Zaccaro,%20Avolio,%20&%20Eagly%20(2017).pdf">establish and maintain specific expectations among voters</a>. Put another way, leadership is as much about maintaining a successful brand as it is about policy outcomes.</p>
<p>Ultimately, Tory’s success emerged from the way that he was able to establish himself as a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/tory-legacy-sex-scandal-1.6753164">competent, effective and practical administrator</a> with a plethora of good judgment. As a result, he could provide Torontonians with an imperfect, but tolerable sense of stability through specific goods. </p>
<p>These goods included, among others, the goods of necessary <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/news/mayor-john-tory-kicks-off-more-than-1-billion-city-of-toronto-2021-construction-season/">infrastructure development</a>, adequate municipal services and fiscal responsibility <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2022/10/14/mayor-john-tory-stands-firm-on-low-taxes-in-the-face-of-massive-budget-shortfall-declining-city-services.html">without a significant increase in taxes</a>. Tory is also credited with <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/task-force-plan-toronto-economy-covid-1.5498842">leading a very capable response</a> to the COVID-19 pandemic. </p>
<p>To put it another way, Tory was — at the very worst — boring. </p>
<h2>The calm after the storm</h2>
<p>Tory’s boring was a good kind of boring. Toronto municipal politics — since the 1998 amalgamation that merged downtown Toronto with each of the city’s inner suburbs <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/01/01/19-years-ago-torontos-six-boroughs-amalgamated.html">to form one “mega-city” administration</a> – has often been contentious and ideologically charged. </p>
<p>City council and the mayor’s office have come to reflect <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/09/22/torontos-political-divide-is-real-but-it-can-change-especially-in-the-suburbs.html">the divergent interests and voting patterns</a> of the more conservative, working-class suburbs and the progressive, educated downtown core. </p>
<p>Toronto politics has been populated by a number of acrimonious, larger-than-life personalities. We might recall, for instance, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2009/12/19/mel_lastman_kicked_off_a_decades_worth_of_faux_pas.html">the gaffe-prone nature</a> of former mayor Mel Lastman, city councillors Giorgio Mammoliti and Gord Perks <a href="https://nationalpost.com/posted-toronto/i-will-defend-myself-if-you-keep-touching-me-gord-perks-and-giorgio-mammoliti-come-close-to-physical-altercation-in-council">who were known for their theatrical shouting matches</a>, or the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/rob-ford-moments-1.3475397">scandal-prone former mayor Rob Ford</a>.</p>
<p>As an exception rather than a rule, Tory will always be remembered as the mayor that stabilized the municipal government <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/the-end-of-the-term-for-rob-ford-what-made-the-outgoing-mayor-both-popular-and-controversial-1.2810759">following the disorder, comedy and scandal of the Ford years</a>. </p>
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<img alt="A man wearing a lei around his neck raises his arms in victory as he speaks from behind a podium. A small crowd of people stand behind him and two women on either side of him are also raising their arms" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512085/original/file-20230223-4425-ksadb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512085/original/file-20230223-4425-ksadb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512085/original/file-20230223-4425-ksadb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512085/original/file-20230223-4425-ksadb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512085/original/file-20230223-4425-ksadb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512085/original/file-20230223-4425-ksadb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512085/original/file-20230223-4425-ksadb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford speaks to his supporters on October 2010 after winning the municipal election.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
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<p>With Tory’s departure, there are indications that this tendency towards political contention will re-emerge. The city’s suburban and downtown populations continue to be divided over the province’s initiatives <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-strong-mayor-bill-39-passes-1.6678864">surrounding “strong mayor” legislation</a>, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/06/24/despite-the-election-outcome-the-fight-to-stop-highway-413-is-far-from-over.html">transportation infrastructure</a> and <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-plows-ahead-with-greenbelt-development-plan-in-face-of-broad-opposition-1.6205697">housing developments in the Greenbelt</a>. </p>
<p>The secure hold on power enjoyed by the Progressive Conservatives at Queen’s Park suggests the <a href="https://breachmedia.ca/how-left-populism-can-win-power-in-toronto/">emergence of an insurgent, populist left-wing counter reaction</a>. At the same time, growing concerns related to the breakdown of law and order may help elect right-wing candidates, <a href="https://thehub.ca/2022-10-26/opinion-vancouvers-centrist-pivot-puts-city-halls-across-canada-on-notice/">as in Vancouver</a>.</p>
<p>Tory’s moderation meant he was often caught in the middle. Conservatives attacked the mayor for <a href="https://nationalpost.com/opinion/jamil-jivani-john-tory-was-not-a-conservative-or-centre-right-mayor">failing to address issues related to crime and maintaining red tape</a> that limited infrastructure development. Progressives attacked him for <a href="https://breachmedia.ca/how-left-populism-can-win-power-in-toronto/">underfunding city services related to transit, maintenance and housing</a>. </p>
<h2>The nail in the coffin</h2>
<p>Tory left office in the midst of an ongoing <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-homelessness-opioid-1.6553837">opioid and homelessness crisis</a>, <a href="https://www.cp24.com/news/violent-incidents-against-toronto-transit-riders-have-gone-up-60-per-cent-in-recent-years-1.6285705">deteriorating public safety</a> and <a href="https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/02/23/news/young-torontonians-hope-new-mayor-will-make-affordability-top-priority">issues with housing affordability</a>. </p>
<p>The reality is that, while mostly popular, Tory relied predominately on his public image as a competent city manager to maintain support. He had to assure Torontonians that his leadership, while not perfect, was at the very least sound and characterized by good judgement. </p>
<p>Tory’s affair, however, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/john-tory-toronto-mayor-affair-resignation-1.6745947">immediately broke down and delegitimized this carefully crafted image</a>. This is because, more than anything, it demonstrated a substantial error of judgment and lack of integrity. The basis of Tory’s public image meant the affair became inherently political, despite it being a personal issue.</p>
<p>Outside whatever personal impact the situation has had on Tory’s family and marriage, the power imbalance of the relationship also complicates matters. Sixty-eight year old Tory’s relationship was with a 31 year old professional subordinate, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/tory-relationship-resignation-power-differential-consent-1.6748505">raising questions about consent and power differentials</a>. There are a number of unanswerable concerns over how the mayor understood, used and made decisions in light of his position of authority.</p>
<p>In the face of all this, there were few remaining factors or strengths the mayor could rely on to weather the storm. While some did defend Tory <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2023/02/15/doug-ford-says-john-tory-shouldnt-resign-its-not-time-to-change.html">and argue he should stay on as mayor</a>, nobody was able to point to a set of policy accomplishments or goals that, after nearly ten years and a worsening city environment, outweighed the assassination of Tory’s character.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200425/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sam Routley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many politicians have survived sex scandals and still held onto their jobs. But news about John Tory’s affair has brought an end to his career as Toronto mayor. Here’s what’s unique about Tory’s case.Sam Routley, PhD Student, Political Science, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1717142021-11-17T15:15:47Z2021-11-17T15:15:47ZMedia scandals: sound and fury, but in the end, little changes<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-handling-of-the-owen-paterson-case-is-a-danger-to-the-entire-fabric-of-british-politics-171324">recent political scandal</a> in the UK involving Owen Paterson, a Conservative MP who was found to have broken parliamentary standards by repeatedly lobbying the government on behalf of two companies which paid him a large regular monthly fee, presents a classic case of a media scandal.</p>
<p>Paterson’s lobbying work was revealed by an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/nov/05/lobbying-for-naked-bacon-how-the-owen-paterson-scandal-began">investigation in The Guardian newspaper</a> in 2019. Allegations of wrongdoing were followed by an inquiry by the parliamentary standards commissioner, Kathryn Stone, and a damning report from the House of Commons committee on standards, which recommended a 30-day suspension for the MP. </p>
<p>The Johnson government then tried to overturn the process, leading to a political and public furore, forcing a U-turn. Paterson subsequently resigned as an MP and opprobrium was heaped on the prime minister, Boris Johnson, with allegations in the media of sleaze and corruption about him and his government. </p>
<p>Spurred on by this episode, journalists dug for stories about other Conservative MPs who may have broken the rules. These included the former attorney general Geoffrey Cox, whose work for the British Virgin Islands, among other clients, has reportedly brought him <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/nov/10/6m-in-16-years-geoffrey-coxs-outside-earnings-while-sitting-as-mp">more than £6 million</a> in his 16 years as an MP.</p>
<p>The episode played out with daily revelations in the press at a time when all eyes were on the UK as the host of the COP26 climate summit.</p>
<h2>Symbiotic relationship</h2>
<p>It is hard to imagine scandals existing without news coverage. Media attention provides the oxygen that fuels scandals. No matter if they happen in politics (<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/watergate-scandal-timeline-nixon">the Watergate Affair</a>), business (<a href="https://www.investopedia.com/updates/enron-scandal-summary/">Enron and fraud</a>), entertainment (<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41594672">Harvey Weinstein and #Me Too</a>), sports (<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/mar/09/lance-armstrong-cycling-doping-scandal">Lance Armstrong’s doping scandal</a>), science <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02989-9">Andrew Wakefield and the MMR vaccine</a>, or religion (<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-44209971">the Catholic Church and sexual abuse</a>), scandals pry open gaps between expected and actual behaviour. This is why virtually no part of society is exempt.</p>
<p>But if scandals need the media to provide oxygen, it the media also benefits from scandals, which illustrates the multiple motivations for press coverage. There are a number of reasons a news organisation might go after a scandal. Exposing wrongdoing by the powerful bolsters the credentials of the press as a public watchdog. Scandals attract eyeballs, increasing audience ratings and circulation and boosting revenues. They can also help reinforce the ideological positions of news organisations. </p>
<p>So, for instance, while the left/liberal Guardian was part of the team that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/08/key-revelations-from-the-paradise-papers">exposed tax-avoidance practices</a> of the powerful elites, the conservative Daily Telegraph vigorously pursued <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/10462871/Its-no-coincidence-the-MPs-found-guilty-of-fiddling-are-all-Labour.html">MPs’ expenses</a>, trumpeting of Labour transgressors: “The party may take the moral high ground, but lying and cheating are deep in its DNA.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A montage of UK newspaper front pages reporting on the Owen Paterson scandal." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431564/original/file-20211111-21-111iejd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431564/original/file-20211111-21-111iejd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431564/original/file-20211111-21-111iejd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431564/original/file-20211111-21-111iejd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431564/original/file-20211111-21-111iejd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431564/original/file-20211111-21-111iejd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431564/original/file-20211111-21-111iejd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What the papers said.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sometimes the news media itself becomes the centre of a scandal, engaging in dubious practices such as deception and invasion of privacy to “get the story”. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/journalism-in-the-dock-first-month-of-phone-hacking-trial-20737">phone-hacking case</a> in the UK was a prime example of this. </p>
<h2>Changing media</h2>
<p>The mainstream media remain important in breaking scandalous news and further documenting wrongdoing. But they aren’t the only gatekeepers now. “Legacy” media has been joined by specialist investigative sites, such as the <a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/">Bureau of Investigative Journalism</a> and social media where people can share tips and stories.</p>
<p>As these new sources of information have added their voices, the dynamics of reporting and gatekeeping scandal stories have become more complex and fluid and the unfolding of scandals has become far more unpredictable. The pace and the content of scandals can rapidly and unexpectedly shift as various different voices introduce new revelations and broadcast to large new and motivated audiences, sending stories “viral” when people pass them on to their friends. </p>
<p>Accordingly, scandal management has had to change. People and institutions implicated in scandals have to confront a more chaotic information ecology to control messages and provide tight, well-managed responses. </p>
<p>The digital revolution has also brought with it new ways of finding, processing and reporting sensitive information with scandalous potential. Journalists and citizens have learned to explore digital data to reveal wrongdoing. As digital footprints can be traced and reconstructed, professional and citizen reporters can scrutinise people and institutions to shed light on their political and financial records as well as their behaviour and statements. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432368/original/file-20211117-17-1vj8sqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Front page of The Guardian with revelations about the Edward Snowden affair." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432368/original/file-20211117-17-1vj8sqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432368/original/file-20211117-17-1vj8sqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432368/original/file-20211117-17-1vj8sqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432368/original/file-20211117-17-1vj8sqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432368/original/file-20211117-17-1vj8sqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1074&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432368/original/file-20211117-17-1vj8sqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1074&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432368/original/file-20211117-17-1vj8sqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1074&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Guardian was one of several news organisations around the world that collaborated on the Snowden revelations.</span>
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<p>Often they set up collaborative platforms to pool their resources in researching stories. The emergence of new types of journalistic collaboration led to the revelations about the surveillance state by former NSA employee <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/edward-snowden-6189">Edward Snowden</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/six-things-a-tax-haven-expert-learned-from-the-panama-papers-57308">Panama papers</a> exposure, which were investigated by an international group of newspapers and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.</p>
<p>But while their newsmaking power continues to grow, revelations by these non-traditional platforms need support from established news organisations and digital platforms with large followings. </p>
<p>The big media organisations are more likely to have the resources, expertise and social prominence to get the stories in front of large audiences. This in turn will spark further revelations as a story gathers pace.</p>
<h2>Heroes and villains</h2>
<p>Media scandals overwhelmingly focus on flawed people, rather than on the structural forces that allow, foster and condone their transgressions. Individual peccadilloes are more likely to attract attention than systemic social problems: corruption, wrongdoing, institutional racism, violence, sexism and corporate abuses. </p>
<p>Media narratives tend to accentuate this problem as they tend to offer simplified stories about heroes and villains instead of deeper examination of social problems that have led to the scandal and all-too often remain after the noise has died down.</p>
<p>The Paterson scandal is following this classic path. Inevitably as soon as the people portrayed as villains are taken down, it will be back to business as usual. The scandal may lead to minor changes in the way the standards committee investigates MPs. But if major structural changes had taken place following the <a href="https://www.britpolitics.co.uk/uk-parliament-cash-for-questions-1994/">1994 cash for questions scandal</a>, this latest scandal would not have occurred. </p>
<p>But it didn’t, so decades later the watchword for public officials remains: don’t get caught.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171714/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Owen Paterson affair was typical of a media scandal,Howard Tumber, Professor of Journalism and Communication, City, University of LondonSilvio Waisbord, Director and Professor School of Media and Public Affairs, George Washington UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1422502020-07-08T03:04:54Z2020-07-08T03:04:54ZThe National Party COVID-19 leak shows why the law must change to protect New Zealand citizens<p><em>Editor’s note: on July 30 the <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/422343/covid-19-privacy-leak-was-deliberate-and-politically-motivated-ssc-inquiry-finds">official inquiry</a> into the leaking of COVID-19 patient data found the breach was “deliberate and politically motivated”.</em></p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300051710/national-mp-hamish-walker-admits-passing-on-leaked-covid19-patient-info-from-former-party-president-michelle-boag">leak</a> of the confidential personal information of COVID-19 patients by Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker and influential party figure Michelle Boag has been highly embarrassing for the National Party. </p>
<p>In less than 24 hours their attack strategy has detonated in their own trenches and newly elected party leader Todd Muller has been scrambling to explain why.</p>
<p>New Zealand was only saved from an even more outrageous privacy breach because various media acted with proper restraint. </p>
<p>But while the political fates of <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300052102/covid19-leak-national-mp-hamish-walker-to-step-down-at-election-over-leak-saga">Walker</a> and <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300052035/michelle-boag-resigns-from-roles-with-nikki-kaye-refuses-to-comment-on-leak?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter">Boag</a> appear to be sealed, their legal exposure needs closer examination. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346244/original/file-20200708-3983-1ebb1ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346244/original/file-20200708-3983-1ebb1ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346244/original/file-20200708-3983-1ebb1ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346244/original/file-20200708-3983-1ebb1ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346244/original/file-20200708-3983-1ebb1ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=999&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346244/original/file-20200708-3983-1ebb1ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=999&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346244/original/file-20200708-3983-1ebb1ty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=999&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">National Party leader Todd Muller: scrambling to explain.</span>
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</figure>
<p>They are both guilty by their own admission of a serious breach of privacy – but are they guilty of a breach of the law? Given the <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/122036788/state-services-commission-investigating-privacy-breach-of-quarantined-covid19-patients?rm=a">official inquiry</a> being undertaken by Mike Heron QC, the legal implications of what has happened will undoubtedly come into sharper focus.</p>
<h2>Privacy is about trust</h2>
<p>The principles of personal privacy are very important. They allow citizens to control their own lives and they control the power others have over citizens. </p>
<p>A respect for privacy allows a system of trust to develop between citizens and governing authorities. </p>
<p>That trust is especially important when it comes to the confidentiality of medical records. While there is no shame in any illness, at a time of paranoia, abuse and intolerance, discretion and security are paramount.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/an-election-like-no-other-with-100-days-to-go-can-jacinda-ardern-maintain-her-extraordinary-popularity-140252">An election like no other: with 100 days to go, can Jacinda Ardern maintain her extraordinary popularity?</a>
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<p>This extends to public health management. People being tested for COVID-19 and receiving medical assistance must be assured it is private – even more so at a time when the <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2020/0012/latest/LMS344134.html?src=qs">power</a> to gather and collect information is so strong.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1280684284437598209"}"></div></p>
<h2>The law is vague</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, it’s not as clear in practice as it is in theory. </p>
<p>While privacy is important, it is not an unambiguous right of the type found in the New Zealand <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1990/0109/latest/DLM224792.html">Bill of Rights</a>. Rather, it sits between <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1961/0043/latest/DLM329802.html?search=sw_096be8ed819660ca_privacy_25_se&p=1&sr=2">criminal law</a>, civil law and other statutes such as the <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0028/latest/DLM296639.html?search=ts_act%40bill%40regulation%40deemedreg_privacy+act_resel_25_a&p=1">Privacy Act</a> (currently being <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2020/0031/latest/LMS23223.html?search=ts_act%40bill%40regulation%40deemedreg_privacy+act_resel_25_a&p=1">updated</a>).</p>
<p>To help govern this area of information privacy there are generic rules and specific codes. The Health Information Privacy Code sets rules about the ways health information is collected, used, held and disclosed by health agencies.</p>
<p>These include ensuring information is not <a href="https://www.privacy.org.nz/the-privacy-act-and-codes/codes-of-practice/health-information-privacy-code-1994/rule-11/">improperly disclosed</a>. While there are some exceptions to the rule, the importance of information being used only for the purposes it was obtained, and not identifying individuals without their consent, is critical.</p>
<p>In theory, this all sounds good and should be sufficient for the Human Rights Tribunal to investigate a possible breach. The problem is that the Privacy Act – explicitly – <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2020/0031/latest/LMS272745.html?search=sw_096be8ed819ba366_member_25_se&p=1&sr=2">does not apply</a> to members of parliament in their official capacity.</p>
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<h2>What about whistle blowers?</h2>
<p>One possible defence might be that an MP or other party was blowing the whistle on government incompetence.</p>
<p>The law in this area is designed to facilitate the investigation of serious wrongdoing. This covers <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2000/0007/latest/whole.html#DLM53901">alleged conduct</a> by public officials that is grossly negligent or constitutes gross mismanagement.</p>
<p>Whether the Walker-Boag leak reaches such a standard is debatable. What is not debatable is the process set down in law for whistle blowers to follow. This includes first exhausting internal processes to resolve the problem. That would not appear to have happened in this case.</p>
<p>It’s also highly questionable whether it would have been necessary to reveal the private health information of citizens to prove the point.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-law-is-clear-border-testing-is-enforceable-so-why-did-new-zealands-quarantine-system-break-down-141036">The law is clear – border testing is enforceable. So why did New Zealand's quarantine system break down?</a>
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<p>However, MPs don’t require whistle-blowing protection when they are speaking in the House of Representatives as they have <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2014/0058/latest/whole.html">parliamentary privilege</a>. Generally this means they can’t be brought before the courts for what they say, and the privacy of individual citizens can be pushed to one side. </p>
<p>In any event, Walker did not use parliament to release the information, so the point is moot.</p>
<h2>The Privacy Commissioner needs more power</h2>
<p>Where to from here? At the political level it will be for voters to use the ballot to express their opinion of what has just occurred.</p>
<p>But in terms of the law there are gaping holes that need to be fixed. </p>
<p>First, the right to privacy should be adopted unequivocally in law. </p>
<p>Second, greater powers should be given to the Privacy Commissioner to protect this right. When it is in the public interest, the commissioner should be able to instigate civil law actions for attempted or actual breaches of privacy. </p>
<p>Finally, members of parliament should only be allowed to override the privacy of fellow citizens when they are using parliamentary privilege. </p>
<p>At all other times they should be held accountable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142250/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Gillespie had received funding from the NZ Law Foundation and the Francqui Foundation, but neither were applicable to this topic.</span></em></p>National MP Hamish Walker and political powerbroker Michelle Boag have admitted leaking confidential patient information – but does that make them legally liable too?Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of WaikatoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/937042018-03-23T10:32:07Z2018-03-23T10:32:07ZWhy Trump will weather Stormy<p>Donald Trump’s opponents have long been waiting for some sort of scandal to bring him down, and they may think they have finally found it in pornographic film star Stormy Daniels.</p>
<p>Daniels alleges she had an extramarital affair with Donald Trump in 2006 and was subsequently paid off by a Trump lawyer to stay silent during the presidential election. These types of charges, if proven true, have felled many politicians in the past. </p>
<p>But Trump’s opponents probably shouldn’t get their hopes up.</p>
<p>While political science research has shown that politicians are generally hurt by political scandals like extramarital affairs, the context is key. </p>
<p><a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1532673X15577830">A study</a> I conducted with political scientists Doug Schwartz and Sebastian Vallejo explored how scandals can affect a politician’s popularity. We did find that a politician’s image and ability to attract votes can suffer in the wake of an extramarital affair. However, the harm is significantly greater when a politician who has campaigned on morality gets caught having an affair.</p>
<p>In other words, it’s the hypocrisy that matters. Our study found that a scandal can reduce support for a generic candidate, but a scandal accompanied by hypocrisy is where the damage is really done, reducing support by 67 percentage points.</p>
<p>A porn star alleging an affair with a politician and receiving hush money may have seemed inconceivable just a few years ago. But Trump has made it much less remarkable. If anything, it fits with the image many have of him.</p>
<p>Trump was in the public eye long before he entered politics, and allegations of infidelity have dogged him for decades. Long before his presidential run, many Americans knew about his infamous, <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2015/07/donald-ivana-trump-divorce-prenup-marie-brenner">public divorce battle</a> with his first wife, Ivana Trump, who accused Trump of cheating on her with the woman who would soon be his second wife, Marla Maples. Since then, allegations of extramarital affairs and sexual misconduct <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_sexual_misconduct_allegations">have only piled up</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/02/politics/cnn-poll-trump-security-clearance-concerns/index.html">Sixty-five percent</a> of Americans in a recent CNN poll view Stormy Daniels’ charges as definitely or probably true. At the same time, few Americans believe Trump holds the same moral values as they do.</p>
<p>According to a Quinnipiac poll <a href="https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2307**">from November 2015</a>, 62 percent of Americans said Trump didn’t share their values, and only 38 percent said Trump was honest. These numbers haven’t shifted during the course of his campaign and presidency. <a href="https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2516">A January 2018</a> Quinnipiac poll asking the same questions registered pretty much the same responses: 60 percent of adults said he didn’t share their values, while 34 percent said he was honest. </p>
<p>In other words, Trump was elected as a man of questionable moral character, and these judgments persist. At the same time, they inure him – at least partially – from charges of moral hypocrisy.</p>
<p>Our findings on hypocrisy and scandal help explain not only Trump’s continued ability to withstand scandal, but also the downfalls of other politicians. </p>
<p>An obvious contrast to Trump is Tim Murphy, a vocally pro-life Republican congressman from Pennsylvania who, in late 2017, <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/05/tim-murphy-resigns-from-congress-243510">resigned from office</a>. Not only did news emerge that he had been having an affair, but his girlfriend also revealed that Murphy had pressured her to seek an abortion when she became pregnant.</p>
<p>Reaching back further, in 2008, New York Governor Elliot Spitzer <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2008/03/10/ny-governor-spitzer-linked-to-high-end-prostitution-ring/">was drummed out of office for hiring prostitutes</a>. As New York’s attorney general, he had been <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/prostitution-sting-rocks-new-yorks-mr-clean/">nicknamed</a> “Mr. Clean,” and was famous for prosecuting and proselytizing about the ills of prostitution. </p>
<p>In each case, the hypocrisy only added fuel to the public and political backlash. If politicians preach morality only to violate it themselves, it can be a career-ender.</p>
<p>While the Daniels affair could easily fell a typical political candidate or officeholder, Trump is no average politician. For his entire adult life, he has been prone to salacious revelations about his personal life.</p>
<p>Trump may be insulated from scandal precisely because he’s always been mired in it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93704/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Monika L. McDermott does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When it comes to political scandals, context is king.Monika L. McDermott, Professor of Political Science, Fordham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/724302017-02-03T13:33:51Z2017-02-03T13:33:51ZFrançois Fillon scandal: is the once-favourite presidential candidate toast?<p>French presidential candidate François Fillon has landed himself in a spot of bother, just months ahead of the election he is due to contest for the Republican party. After his surprising but impressive victory in the right-wing primary in November, Fillon seemed a shoo-in for the Elysée Palace, but then came revelations about him employing members of his family. He’s now a candidate in crisis. </p>
<p>The trouble all started on Wednesday January 25, when, with perfect and deliberate timing, the satirical weekly magazine Le Canard enchainé <a href="http://www.liberation.fr/elections-presidentielle-legislatives-2017/2017/01/31/marc-joulaud-trop-fidele-lieutenant_1545434">published an article</a> claiming that Fillon’s wife Penelope had worked for her husband as his parliamentary assistant between 1998 and 2002. It said she had earned somewhere between €3,000 and €4,000 a month before going on to work for Fillon’s replacement, Marc Joulaud, from 2002 to 2007 (when Fillon became a government minister) at an increased rate of more than €7,000.</p>
<p>There is nothing in the law to prohibit deputies or senators employing members of their families as parliamentary assistants. Indeed many do. They have a fixed allowance to employ whatever assistants they need and they, not parliament, are regarded as the employer. But the job must be real.</p>
<p>Therein lay the problem. During his party’s primary campaign, Fillon had made capital of the fact that, unlike certain candidates (meaning his main rival Nicolas Sarkozy but also president François Hollande), he had always kept his private life private. His wife stayed out of the spotlight and played no part in his political career. The Welsh-born Penelope showed little enthusiasm to appear in public with her husband even when he won the primary. Something did not quite add up.</p>
<p>Le Canard enchaîné went on to claim that no-one at the National Assembly could remember her working there. Worse, <a href="http://www.liberation.fr/elections-presidentielle-legislatives-2017/2017/01/26/fillon-touche-dans-son-integrite_1544341">Christine Kelly</a>, author of the only authorised biography of Fillon, said she had never come across any evidence that Mme Fillon played any role as a parliamentary assistant.</p>
<p>Fillon was quick to respond. Live on French TV news on the evening of January 26 he said his wife’s work was largely carried out in his parliamentary constituency in the Sarthe, central France. In what he may have thought looked like an act of good faith, he added that when he left government and became a senator (2005-2007), he had employed his two eldest children to work for him. He <a href="http://www.lemonde.fr/election-presidentielle-2017/article/2017/01/27/affaire-penelope-francois-fillon-contre-attaque_5069881_4854003.html">defended that choice</a> on the grounds that they were lawyers and therefore qualified to do the specialised work he required of them.</p>
<p>Except the Canard <a href="http://www.liberation.fr/elections-presidentielle-legislatives-2017/2017/01/31/les-fillon-une-famille-en-or_1545437">went on to report</a> that neither of them had, at that point, qualified as lawyers. And the sums they were said to be earning were certainly impressive for students in their early twenties, at €3,800 and €4,800 per month (before tax). Again, there is nothing illegal in this. Many doctoral students specialising in politics and history work as parliamentary assistants – but probably not at those rates. </p>
<h2>Losing ground</h2>
<p>Fillon supporters wanted some sort of explanation. The affair was already having an impact in the <a href="http://www.lefigaro.fr/elections/presidentielles/2017/01/29/35003-20170129ARTFIG00205-francois-fillon-fait-front-et-remobilise-son-camp.php">opinion polls</a>, with Fillon dropping behind far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and worryingly close to leftist upstart Emmanuel Macron.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the parquet national financier, the branch of the French judiciary responsible for investigating misuse of public funds, had swung into action the day the allegations were published. On Monday 30 – with the permission of the speaker – police raided the National Assembly. The same afternoon, they interviewed the Fillons, separately.</p>
<p>Despite support for Fillon from party heavyweights, the affair was beginning to have an impact on public opinion. Various polls showed that many voters thought Fillon would not, or should not, continue to stand in the presidential election. It was not just that Fillon may or may not have done something wrong, but also that he had played the “honest man” card while surreptitiously stretching the rules.</p>
<p>And even if what he had done was legal, it hardly played well against his manifesto promises of more austerity, welfare reductions and cutting 500,000 jobs in public services. Suddenly, the emphasis Fillon had placed on family values took on a very different meaning.</p>
<h2>Switching up?</h2>
<p>In the background, <a href="http://www.liberation.fr/elections-presidentielle-legislatives-2017/2017/02/01/fillon-le-parti-lr-proche-de-la-rupture_1545705">individual Republican parliamentarians</a> were becoming increasingly uneasy with the candidate. Fillon <a href="http://www.liberation.fr/elections-presidentielle-legislatives-2017/2017/02/01/francois-fillon-a-ses-troupes-on-a-quinze-jours-a-tenir_1545539">met the party rank and file</a> on the morning of Wednesday February 1 and promised them that the whole matter would be cleared up within a fortnight. He was perhaps confident that he had been able to provide investigators with convincing evidence to have the matter dropped. However, on the same morning, Le Canard enchaîné publicly stated that it was sticking by its original story and publishing further allegations that Penelope Fillon had in fact been her husband’s parliamentary assistant since 1988.</p>
<p>If Fillon had thought he could see out the storm, matters took a turn for the worse the next day when France 2 announced that it had found a copy of a video of a <a href="http://tvmag.lefigaro.fr/programme-tv/comment-envoye-special-a-decroche-les-nouvelles-revelations-de-l-affaire-fillon_c7365100-e880-11e6-949d-97e4c61b01f7/">2007 interview</a> with Penelope in which she said she had never been her husband’s assistant. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EZq5ads8fBw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Penelope Fillon says she has never been her husband’s assistant.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The same evening, speaking to an enthusiastic crowd of a thousand supporters at Charleville-Mezières in the north-east of France, Fillon slammed his left-wing opponents and the Paris-based media “microcosme” for obsessing over the story.</p>
<p>But party leaders have begun to look at a plan B. Gérard Larcher, the Filloniste speaker of the Senate, has been charged with finding an alternative candidate for the Republicans. Asked very soon after the story broke if he would be willing stand, <a href="https://theconversation.com/french-election-2017-meet-the-candidates-69436">Alain Juppé</a>, who crashed out of the primary at an earlier stage than expected, was categorical in his refusal. But if Fillon does withdraw, that might change.</p>
<p>Other names have been mooted. Perhaps François Baroin, a former minister and senator-mayor of Troyes, a longstanding Filloniste touted as a candidate for 2022, or Laurent Wauquiez or Xavier Bertrand – again, men who have mostly been on the shortlist for the next campaign. And what price Nicolas Sarkozy? With only a few weeks until the first round of voting in the election, the Republicans need to <a href="http://www.lefigaro.fr/elections/presidentielles/2017/02/02/35003-20170202ARTFIG00309-les-reflexions-s-accelerent-autour-du-plan-b.php">move quickly</a> if they are going to replace Fillon.</p>
<p>The other candidates have remained relatively circumspect regarding Fillon’s problems. Le Pen has her own troubles, concerning some <a href="http://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2017/02/01/marine-le-pen-refuse-de-rembourser-300-000-euros-reclames-par-le-parlement-europeen_5072484_823448.html">€300,000</a> she has been ordered to (and is refusing to) repay the European parliament following an accusation that she misspent the funds by using European money to pay party staff working on French matters. </p>
<p>The various characters on the left are too busy trying to work out their own relationship – and Macron sees no capital to be made in attacking Fillon. In any case, they really do not need to get involved. The French right, once described by Fillon’s late political mentor Philippe Séguin as “<a href="http://www.liberation.fr/france/1998/04/29/la-grosse-gaffe-de-la-droite-la-plus-bete-du-monde-le-rpr-a-repris-un-dessin-d-asterix-sans-demander_234244">the stupidest right in the world</a>” might be on the point of <a href="http://www.lefigaro.fr/elections/presidentielles/2017/02/02/35003-20170202ARTFIG00229-au-fn-on-attend-l-implosion-des-republicains-avec-impatience.php">implosion</a>, all by itself.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72430/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The former PM stands accused of employing his wife for years without bothering to mention it to voters.Paul Smith, Associate Professor in French and Francophone Studies, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/716632017-01-27T07:33:55Z2017-01-27T07:33:55ZFacing unemployment, austerity and scandal, Brazil struggles to keep it together<p>As if 134 deaths in a two-week rash of <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/06/508512559/dozens-of-inmates-killed-in-another-brazilian-prison-riot">prison riots</a> were not dramatic enough for Brazil, on <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/01/20/small-plane-crash-that-killed-brazils-key-corruption-judge-demands-investigation-and-protection-from-temer/">January 19 a plane crash </a> killed Teori Zavascki, the Supreme Court justice overseeing a high-profile nation-wide corruption case known as <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2002/BUSINESS/06/24/brazil.crisis/index.html">Operation Carwash</a>, which has incriminated the upper echelons of national politics. </p>
<p>Brazil, as the saying goes, is not for amateurs. That’s long been true of South America’s <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/print_br.html">most populous nation and biggest economy</a>, which has seen many ups and downs since toppling its military dictatorship in 1985 – including prior <a href="https://nacla.org/article/brazil-impeachment">impeachments</a> and <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2002/BUSINESS/06/24/brazil.crisis/index.html">debt crisis</a>.</p>
<p>But, as Brazilians are now coming to realise, things can always get worse. Today the country of 200 million has one of the world’s <a href="http://homicide.igarape.org.br">highest homicide rate</a> and is contending with a storm of competing and colluding crises: economic, political, and social. </p>
<h2>The great recession</h2>
<p>Brazil is facing a severe economic crisis. After the <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/03/economist-explains-8">slowdown in China</a> and sharp <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/459ef70a-4a43-11e5-b558-8a9722977189">drop in commodity prices</a>, various Latin American nations have seen the end of the past decade’s short – but bright – period of higher <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2014/aug/27/inequality-latin-america-undp">economic growth and inequality reduction</a>. </p>
<p>But Brazil’s decline has been particularly steep. Gross domestic product (GDP) shrunk by <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/brazil-economy-shrinks-in-fourth-quarter-1457008738">3.8% in 2015</a> and over <a href="http://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/en/economia/noticia/2016-08/brazil-government-increased-gdp-growth-forecast-16-2017">3% in 2016</a>, while unemployment rose from 8.8 million to <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2016/10/04/news/economy/brazil-economy-jobs-crisis/">12 million in one year</a>.</p>
<p>Elements of the crisis pre-date president Dilma Rousseff’s truncated second term (2015-2016). But the sharp fiscal consolidation program she began implementing in 2015 helped turn an economic slowdown into the deepest recession in a century. Rousseff became a believer in <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-economy-fiscal-idUSKBN0NS04Z20150507">expansionary fiscal austerity</a>, reducing public investment by more than 30% in 2015 and slashing <a href="http://repositorio.ipea.gov.br/bitstream/11058/6873/1/TD_2215.PDF">federal spending</a>.</p>
<p>This tactic caused both the fiscal system and the broader national economy to deteriorate. As GDP contracted, so did federal tax revenues, dropping <a href="http://g1.globo.com/economia/noticia/2016/01/com-atividade-fraca-arrecadacao-tem-pior-desempenho-em-5-anos-em-2015.html">5.6% in 2015</a>.</p>
<p>Millions <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2016/12/29/brazil-record-unemployment-rate-rises-by-33-rio-de-janeiro-hangs-like-a-loose-tooth/#6b553dfb2160">lost their jobs</a>, returning the unemployment rate nearly to its pre-boom levels. And Rousseff’s popularity fell, reaching a record low of <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/brazil-presidents-approval-rating-hits-record-low-1434890135">9% in June 2015</a>.</p>
<p>Which leads us to the next issue: president Rousseff’s controversial impeachment, and the turmoil surrounding it.</p>
<h2>Political chaos</h2>
<p>The Operation Carwash probe, which was launched in 2015, did not directly implicate Rousseff. But it uncovered corruption among members of her Workers’ Party, along with lawmakers from most of the country’s <a href="http://meucongressonacional.com/lavajato/partidos">numerous political parties</a>. These swirling scandals inflated a generalised <a href="http://www.ibope.com.br/pt-br/noticias/Paginas/Instituicees-politicas-perdem-ainda-mais-a-confianca-dos-brasileiros.aspx">distrust in Brazil’s political system</a>. </p>
<p>The door was then open for her ouster, which took eight months to be realised. When the senate finally voted 61-20 in August 2016 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/01/world/americas/brazil-dilma-rousseff-impeached-removed-president.html?_r=0">to impeach Rousseff</a> for breaking budgetary rules, many believed economic stability would return.</p>
<p>Instead, Brazil’s economy contracted by another 3.2% in 2016, according to the <a href="http://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/en/economia/noticia/2016-08/brazil-government-increased-gdp-growth-forecast-16-2017">latest estimates</a>, frustrating hopes for a quick recovery. Many states are now in a calamitous financial situation. </p>
<p>The vast majority of the country’s economic elites supported Rousseff’s ouster. But many millions marched in support of her, and they are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/13/brazil-anti-government-protests-dilma-rousseff-rio-de-janeiro">deeply unsatisfied with the leadership</a> of new president Michel Temer. </p>
<p>This polarising scenario has plunged Brazilian institutions into deep chaos.</p>
<p>President Temer’s close ally and former minister of planning, Romero Jucá, was <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-36365781">caught on tape</a> conspiring to obstruct Operation Carwash. This revelation all but confirmed that the impeachment process was an attempt by corrupt lawmakers to stop investigations into their illegal activities. </p>
<p>No wonder the plane crash that killed Justice Zavascki – just a few days before a crucial next step in the Supreme Court case – is <a href="http://time.com/4642972/brazil-teori-zavascki-brazil-corruption/">raising so much suspicion</a>.</p>
<p>Six ministers from Temer administration have resigned amid corruption charges, and investigations have implicated other major figures in the president’s Brazilian Democratic Party Movement (PMDB). </p>
<p>Former congressional president Eduardo Cunha, who led the push to impeach Rousseff based on tenuous allegations of a minor crime, was arrested for taking US$5 million in bribes from a company that won <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-37709537">contracts with the state-run Petrobras</a> oil company. The senate president also nearly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/08/brazils-top-court-overturns-ban-on-senate-head-renan-calheiros">stepped down</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, polls from <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-politics-poll-idUSKCN1241M3">October 2016</a> show that just 14% of Brazilians approve of Temer’s government. </p>
<h2>Unpopular reforms</h2>
<p>Despite its unpopularity, congress has mustered the required three-fifths majority to approve a series of fiscal reforms. </p>
<p>In December it passed what is arguably the <a href="http://www.vox.com/world/2016/12/15/13957284/brazil-spending-cap-austerity">harshest austerity measure</a> in the world: freezing the federal budget at its 2016 level for the next two decades. The cap means that funding for education, health care, pensions, infrastructure and other government programmes will remain relatively constant (except for inflation), in real terms, until 2036. </p>
<p>In failing to account for any growth in Brazil’s population or economy, the spending cap may <a href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazil-Is-About-to-Institutionalize-Neoliberalism-For-2-Decades-20161006-0023.html">destroy</a>, in slow motion, the country’s incipient welfare state. Brazil’s public health-care system, already precarious, will be too underfunded to adequately serve its ageing population – a disaster particularly <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/12/brazil-austerity-move-slammed-disaster-poor-161217185527208.html">for the poor</a>.</p>
<p>An alternative way to cut the fiscal deficit would be taxing the incomes of the very rich, 65% of which is exempt under Brazil’s <a href="http://g1.globo.com/economia/noticia/2016/10/concentracao-de-renda-cresce-e-brasileiros-mais-ricos-superam-74-mil.html">unfair system</a>. But this is not even up for discussion. </p>
<p>So, next up, the government has announced a draconian <a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-12/07/c_135887869.htm">reform of the pension system</a> and <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-labor-idUSKBN1582UI?il=0">deregulation of labour laws</a>.</p>
<h2>Future prospects</h2>
<p>Today, Temer’s fragile government is essentially surviving based on the dramatic setbacks to the Supreme Court’s corruption probe and its tough fiscal reforms, which are popular among economic elites. </p>
<p>Not surprisingly, both are also serving to deepen <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2016/12/16/brazil-temer-economy-petrobras-lavajato/#52d2346467ac">widespread distrust</a> of the government. It is unclear whether Temer will make it to December 31 2018, when Rousseff’s term would normally have ended. </p>
<p>It’s likely that only the next Brazilian presidential election can end the current turbulence and restore trust in the nation’s institutions. </p>
<p>But if the results of recent mayoral elections are any indication, things don’t look good for the left. In Rio de Janeiro, fed-up voters chose a <a href="https://theconversation.com/rio-de-janeiros-new-evangelical-mayor-could-threaten-the-citys-famed-diversity-68138">conservative evangelical pastor</a>, while São Paulo put in power a <a href="https://theconversation.com/sao-paulos-drug-policies-are-working-will-the-new-mayor-kill-them-67129">conservative wealthy businessman</a>. </p>
<p>And things could yet get worse. According to <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/f9ee01ca-ce49-11e6-864f-20dcb35cede2">recent presidential polling</a>, public support for Congressman Jair Bolsonaro, who openly longs for the “good old days” of Brazil’s military dictatorship, is climbing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71663/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Carvalho does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Things keep getting worse for South America’s most populous nation and biggest economy. What is going on, Brazil?Laura Carvalho, Professor of Economics, Universidade de São Paulo (USP)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/691622016-11-30T07:44:27Z2016-11-30T07:44:27ZSouth Korean protests the first to bring down a president in a long history of civic activism<p>The president of South Korea has <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/world/asia/park-geun-hye-south-korea-resign.html?emc=edit_na_20161129&nlid=64524812&ref=headline&_r=0">announced she is willing to resign</a> before the end of her five-year term. Park Geun-Hye made the announcement during her third televised apology to the nation, over a corruption scandal that has gripped the country for weeks. </p>
<p>She has left it to the National Assembly to decide the timing of her departure for a smooth transition of power.</p>
<p>The move comes <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/27/world/asia/south-korea-park-geun-hye-impeachment.html?emc=edit_ae_20161127&nl=todaysheadlines-asia&nlid=64524812&_r=1">only two days after her refusal to step down</a> and has been interpreted as an attempt to head off an impending impeachment in the National Assembly, and as a concession to a series of large protests by South Koreans. </p>
<p>Despite the cold and snow, South Koreans held what is <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/26/world/asia/korea-park-geun-hye-protests.html?emc=edit_th_20161127&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=64524812">thought to be the largest protest yet</a> on Saturday November 26, calling on President Park to resign. She has been struggling with an ongoing influence-peddling scandal involving a long-term friend and confidant, Choi Soon-sil, which may <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/27/world/asia/south-korea-park-geun-hye-impeachment.html?emc=edit_ae_20161127&nl=todaysheadlines-asia&nlid=64524812&_r=1">still lead to her prosecution</a>. </p>
<h2>Growing protests</h2>
<p>The protest was the latest in a series of marches that have been held <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/13/world/asia/korea-park-geun-hye-protests.html">every Saturday since the scandal</a> broke in October. Crowds have included teenagers in school uniforms, young parents carrying strollers, senior citizens, and even opposition party leaders, all holding candles and signs calling for the president to stand down. </p>
<p>Although organisers and police have frequently been at odds about the number of people attending, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-26/hundreds-of-thousands-of-koreans-protest-against-park-geun-hye/8060800?WT.mc_id=newsmail&WT.tsrc=Newsmail">media reports have noted</a> that the gatherings are the largest political protests since the <a href="http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/south-koreans-win-mass-campaign-democracy-1986-87">1986-1987 rallies that brought about democratisation</a> after years of authoritarianism. </p>
<p>Alleged corruption scandals involving the cronies and families of presidents are <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-you-should-know-about-south-koreas-political-scandal-the-same-old-story-but-with-a-twist-68722">not unusual in South Korean politics</a>, but they have not usually led to such a strong public response. Former presidents have all been plunged into these kinds of scandals in the latter years of their tenure. </p>
<p>The first president after democratisation in 1987, Roh Tae-Woo (1988-1993), was <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1995-11-17/news/mn-4124_1_roh-tae-woo">charged with corruption after he left office</a> and sentenced to 17 years in prison. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9705/15/skorea.scandal/">The second son of president Kim Young-Sam</a> (1993-1998) was involved in a bribery scandal in May 1997, while Kim was still in the office. A <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/20/news/son-of-kim-dae-jung-held-in-bribery-scandal.html">similar scandal</a> plagued Nobel prize-winning president Kim Dae-Jung (1998-2003) five years later. </p>
<p>Another bribery scandal involved Roh Mu-hyun (2003-2008), who was a human rights lawyer before becoming president. Roh <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/world/asia/24roh.html">killed himself in 2009</a>. </p>
<p>Park’s predecessor, Lee Myung-Bak (2008-2013), <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-18792840">also became embroiled in a bribery scandal</a> involving his elder brother. </p>
<h2>Why so angry?</h2>
<p>Despite political scandals and controversies affecting every president since South Korea’s democratisation, <a href="http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Policy-Politics/Can-Park-resign-South-Korea-s-constitution-is-unclear">every president has finished</a> their five-year term since the nation’s current constitution came into effect in 1987.</p>
<p>What’s different this time? Perhaps the involvement of Park’s confidante Choi Soon-sil, who is alleged to have extorted millions of dollars from South Korean businesses with the president’s help. Two close aides – An Chong-Bum and Jeong Ho-Seong – have <a href="http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/Article.aspx?aid=3026413">also been formally charged</a>. </p>
<p>Park’s supporters have dismissed the accusations against the president as a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/world/asia/park-geun-hye-south-korea-extortion-accomplice-prosecutors.html?_r=0">“witch hunt” and said the protesters are running a “people’s court”</a>. </p>
<p>Park made two other apologies – <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/29/asia/south-korea-reshuffle/">on October 25</a> and <a href="http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/focus/2016/11/04/91/1700000000AEN20161104010700315F.html">on November 4</a> – since the scandal erupted. But her <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-politics-poll-idUSKBN13603G">approval rating continued to drop</a>.</p>
<p>The protesters’ core criticism of Park is <a href="http://www.atimes.com/article/making-korea-great/">she has embarrassed the country</a>. Many have expressed their sense of betrayal by an elected leader who is <a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-south-korea-us-20161114-story.html">alleged to have shared power</a> with her unelected friend. </p>
<p>Apart from the extortion charges Choi is facing, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/27/world/asia/south-korea-park-geun-hye-impeachment.html?emc=edit_ae_20161127&nl=todaysheadlines-asia&nlid=64524812&_r=1">she is thought to have</a> edited Park’s speeches, had access to confidential government documents and advised Park on what to wear.</p>
<h2>A history of civic engagement</h2>
<p>South Korea has a history of political protests and direct participation that dates from <a href="http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/south-koreans-win-mass-campaign-democracy-1986-87">even earlier than 1987</a>. </p>
<p>The All People’s Conference (<em>Manmin Kongdonghoe</em>) originally started as a <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780819199140/Dr.-Philip-Jaisohn's-Reform-Movement-1896-1898-A-Critical-Appraisal-of-the-Independence-Club">subordinate civic group of the Independence Club</a> (<em>Dongnip Hyeophoe</em>) that was an association formed by reform-minded elites in 1897. Now defunct, it evolved into a congress of Koreans in 1898. </p>
<p>Then there was <a href="http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/koreans-protest-japanese-control-march-1st-movement-1919">1919 March 1st Movement</a>, one of the earliest examples of Korean resistance against Japanese colonial rule, which began in 1910. And the 1960 <a href="http://adst.org/2013/04/the-fall-of-south-korean-strongman-syngman-rhee-april-26-1960/">April 19 Revolution</a> was a popular uprising against the Rhee Syng-Man administration’s electoral corruption. </p>
<p>It brought about Rhee’s resignation, but <a href="http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2016/05/633_155532.html">South Korea’s short-lived democracy soon ended</a> as the current president’s father, Park Chung-Hee seized power with a coup d'etat in May of the following year.</p>
<p>Civic culture clearly remains vibrant in South Korea as the mass demonstrations across the past five Saturdays illustrate. These recent protests are a sign that the South Korean people are willing and eager to play an active role in the political modernisation of their country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69162/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eunjung Lim does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>After weeks of mass demonstrations and a growing threat of impeachment, President Park Geun-Hye has said she is willing to resign before her term ends in February 2018.Eunjung Lim, Lecturer, Johns Hopkins UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.