Power and Corruption

Power corrupts man, yet man corrupts power. Throughout literature, authors have explored the themes of power and corruption. Many characters gain power, lose power, desire power, question power, and misuse power. Corruption is generally defined as the misuse of public authority, and political corruption is here defined as corruption in which the political decision-makers are involved. There are various forms of corruption: bribery, embezzlement, fraud and extortion, thus two theories developed on corruption are "extractive" and "redistributive"; both illustrate the effects of corruption in various regime types. Students will read, discuss, analyze and evaluate various texts in terms of the thematic development of power and corruption. Furthermore, students will discuss some of the causes and effects of corruption.

Reading choices for this unit include the following: Animal Farm  by George Orwell , Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins