How to Root Out Corruption Without Introducing More

Are you worried there may be corruption in the American executive branch today, yet also fearful that the tools for rooting out such malfeasance may be abused? If so, welcome to the dilemmas surrounding the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

There has been speculation about whether President Donald Trump and his real estate operations abroad might be guilty of FCPA violations -- a cause for concern -- but at the same time the federal government can use the FCPA to threaten executives with prison terms of up to 20 years. That’s not entirely reassuring in a polity when impartiality and the rule of law are not guaranteed. At a time when so many norms are being broken, including personalized presidential tweets attacking business leaders, attacks on the idea of free speech and a newly heightened sense of political polarization, the threat of politically motivated prosecutions can cause executives to think twice before criticizing the government.