In this book, Dennis Thompson argues that the growing demand for accountability in an increasingly complicated political environment has rendered traditional codes of conduct inadequate. Shifting the focus from individual corruption to institutional corruption, the author shows how the institution itself is posing new ethical challenges and how the complexity of the environment in which members work creates new occasions for corruption and invites more calls for accountability.

Thompson moves the discussion beyond bribery, extortion, and personal gain to the world of implicit understandings, ambiguous favors, and political advantage. He examines several major ethics cases of recent years, including the cases of David Durenberger, the Keating Five, and former House Speaker James Wright.