IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/lawdev/v4y2011i3n3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corruption and Political Culture in Africa: History, Meaning, and the Problem of Naming

Author

Listed:
  • Ochonu Moses E.

    (Vanderbilt University)

Abstract

The ethical precision prescribed and codified by legal formulations on corruption conflicts with the on-ground difficulty of naming corruption in Africa. African state formations have been grappling with this tension since precolonial times, producing a crisis of naming and description that has mutated along with the nature and dynamics of the African state and its constitutive interests. This paper explores this tension from a transhistorical perspective. Using case studies from Nigeria and examples from Kenya and elsewhere, it examines the historical engagements of Africans, their institutions, and colonial power formations with ethics, morality, and corruption. The paper proceeds from this exploration to polemically intervene in some contemporary discourses and debates on corruption and the state in Africa. It uses the transhistorical analysis of the continuities and ruptures in corruption discourse and praxis to argue that the politics of naming is central to a comprehensive understanding of malfeasance and graft on the continent.

Suggested Citation

  • Ochonu Moses E., 2011. "Corruption and Political Culture in Africa: History, Meaning, and the Problem of Naming," The Law and Development Review, De Gruyter, vol. 4(3), pages 27-58, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:lawdev:v:4:y:2011:i:3:n:3
    DOI: 10.2202/1943-3867.1115
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2202/1943-3867.1115
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2202/1943-3867.1115?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. M. Shahid Alam, 1989. "Anatomy of Corruption: An Approach to the Political Economy of Underdevelopment," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 441-456, October.
    2. John Mukum Mbaku, 1996. "Bureaucratic Corruption in Africa: The Futility of Cleanups," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 16(1), pages 99-118, Spring/Su.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shirazi Fraid, 2012. "Virtual Bazaar: A Means of Supporting Microtrade in the Least Developed Countries," The Law and Development Review, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 29-49, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Olayinka Akanle & J.O. Adesina, 2015. "Corruption and the Nigerian Development Quagmire," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 31(4), pages 421-446, December.
    2. Onyeka Osuji, 2011. "Fluidity of Regulation-CSR Nexus: The Multinational Corporate Corruption Example," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 103(1), pages 31-57, September.
    3. Marc Audi & Amjad Ali, 2019. "Exploring the Linkage between Corruption and Economic Development in The Case of Selected Developing and Developed Nations," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 9(4), pages 37-49.
    4. Thomas M. Fitzpatrick, 2009. "The Social And Economic Impact Of Corruption On Nations And Multinational Corporations," JOURNAL STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABES-BOLYAI NEGOTIA, Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Business.
    5. Djumashev, Ratbek, 2006. "Corrupt Bureaucracy and Growth," MPRA Paper 2082, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Thomas M. Fitzpatrick, 2007. "A Taxonomy Of Corruption," JOURNAL STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABES-BOLYAI NEGOTIA, Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Business.
    7. Yemane Desta, 2019. "Manifestations and Causes of Civil Service Corruption in Developing Countries," Journal of Public Administration and Governance, Macrothink Institute, vol. 9(3), pages 23-35, December.
    8. Ratbek, Ratbek, 2010. "Nonlinear effect of corruption, uncertainty, and growth," MPRA Paper 24834, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Cuèllar, Mariano-Florentino & Stephenson, Matthew C., 2022. "Taming systemic corruption: The American experience and its implications for contemporary debates," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    10. Gen-Fu Feng & Bo Sui & Min-Yi Dong & Chun-xia Jiang & Chun-Ping Chang, 2018. "Border is better than distance? Contagious corruption in one belt one road economies," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1909-1928, July.
    11. Mavhungu Abel Mafukata, 2015. "Evolution of Corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa - from Nkruma to Mutharika The 2nd: Case Study of South Africa," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 4(1), pages 87-112, January.
    12. Bo Sui & Gen-Fu Feng & Chun-Ping Chang, 2018. "The pioneer evidence of contagious corruption," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 945-968, March.
    13. Coolidge, Jacqueline & Rose-Ackerman, Susan, 1997. "High-level rent-seeking and corruption in African regimes : theory and cases," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1780, The World Bank.
    14. Halil D. Kaya, 2023. "The Global Crisis And Corruption: Retailers, Government Contracts And Licensing," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 5, pages 99-104, October.
    15. Guych NURYYEV & Charles HICKSON, 2015. "Corruption Centralization, Investments, and Growth: Analysis of 62 countries for 1995-2007," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 15(1), pages 17-30.
    16. Tetsushi Sonobe & John Akoten & Keijiro Otsuka, 2011. "The growth process of informal enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa: a case study of a metalworking cluster in Nairobi," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 323-335, April.
    17. Ocheje Paul D., 2011. "When Law Fails: A Theory of Self-Enforcing Anti-Corruption Legislation in Africa," The Law and Development Review, De Gruyter, vol. 4(3), pages 238-280, September.
    18. Daniel Agbiboa, 2012. "Between Corruption and Development: The Political Economy of State Robbery in Nigeria," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 108(3), pages 325-345, July.
    19. Addo, Atta A., 2016. "Explaining 'irrationalities' of IT-enabled change in a developing country bureaucracy: the case of Ghana's Tradenet," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 69471, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. Ratbek Dzhumashev, 2006. "Public Goods, Corruption And Growth???," Monash Economics Working Papers 15/06, Monash University, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:lawdev:v:4:y:2011:i:3:n:3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.