The decision to organize a public conference and issue of Social Research on this theme seems long overdue, since there is hardly anywhere one can look in public or political life in the United States and elsewhere where one does not find evidence of corruption. The challenge was how to delimit this project. We have chosen to focus on the definition of "corruption" in political and historical contexts. The conference will examine U.S.-specific and global dimensions of the problem, including social and historical dimensions of corruption, systems at risk of corruption (governments, business, labor, and markets), and possibilities for reform. Additional issues will be addressed in the Social Research issue (Volume 80, Number 4, Winter 2014), including case studies of corruption in Kenya, India, Russia, Latin America, and the U.S.

Chris Dodd, Former U.S. Congressman, representing Connecticut for 36 years; Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc.

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