University of York philosophy professor Susan Mendus. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

A morally sound politician is a myth but corruption to secure a good political outcome for society can possibly be more acceptable than shady dealings done for purely self-serving motives, according to political philosophy professor Susan Mendus.

“It’s rather naive for people to accept that politics can be incorrupt. Both Plato and Machiavelli have argued that you can’t have politics without deceit and corruption.

“But, in a way, the huge outrage on political corruption springs from democracy. One votes for morally sound people who will represent them and act on their behalf, so the exposure of corruption comes as a great shock.”

Prof. Mendus, a Morrell Professor Emerita in political philosophy at the University of York, is in Malta to deliver this evening’s Strickland Foundation Memorial Lecture ‘Politics and morality’, also the title of a book she authored. Politicians strive to be re-elected so they naturally do not let the public know of their wrongdoings. Politicians, she continued, must also get results for the State – and it may not always be possible to get things done in a transparent manner.

Disbelief in politicians is damaging because sleaze ends up eclipsing more important issues

To illustrate her point, Prof. Mendus turns to the case of John Major, British prime minister from 1990 to 1997. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) set off a bomb and Mr Major said publicly that under no circumstances would he ever negotiate with them.

“It turned out he had been conducting negotiations – and these negotiations brought about peace. If he hadn’t conducted those negotiations or if he had told the truth about them, then peace would have been a long time in the making. If you don’t negotiate with terrorists, you’re doomed to repeated attacks.”

In the UK, however, the pendulum seems to have swung too far, where people have taken to believing all politicians to be hugely corrupt, probably more than they actually are.

This, Prof. Mendus argued, is damaging because sleaze ends up eclipsing more important issues such as the eurozone and the involvement of the UK in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Prof. Mendus will deliver the lecture this evening at 6.30pm at the Phoenicia Hotel. Attendance is free.