In Search of a Political Office: Railway Directors and Electoral Corruption in Britain and France,1820-1870

Abstract

In Search of Political Office: Railway Directors and Electoral Corruption in Britain and France, 1820–1870

The article analyses public debates on electoral corruption involving railway directors in Great Britain and France to study the negotiation of norms that regulated political representation during a crucial phase in the development of modern Europe. In general, railway directors preferred indirect methods of influence such as promising new infrastructures to a constituency over direct forms, for example bribery, because they could be legitimised more effectively in public debates by pointing out the benefit to the general public in contrast to their presumed private gain. Although the methods employed in both countries show similarities, their evaluation in debates differ, which can be attributed to the diverging theories of representation and political frameworks.