1. Peru
– Two decades of differing syndromes
The case of
Peru is interesting for the stark contrast in the symptom and kind of
corruption before and after the “Fujishock” and the release of Vladi-videos
which exposed the grand corruption at the hands of Alberto Fujimori. In short,
the author points out that, while the former era was symptomatic of the
“Oligarchs and Clans” classification, the decentralized Toledo government which
took over has more characteristics of petty corruption, with pilfering and
leakage at the bottommost levels of the state machinery.
The author goes on to raise a larger question of whether certain forms of governance structures – the decentralized and autonomous wings of the government like the municipality in the case of Peru, are inherently subject to greater vulnerability to corruption. Another way to look at the issue is to explore nature and values of the state, regime change and the anti-corruption vehicles which are
“institutionalized”. As Mungiu suggests (2006), regime changes and anti-corruption reforms fail if they try to adopt anti-corrupt institutions without reforming the ideals formed by the patrimonial set-up of the society. Institutionalizing anti-corruption vehicles alone, then, might not help.
The author goes on to raise a larger question of whether certain forms of governance structures – the decentralized and autonomous wings of the government like the municipality in the case of Peru, are inherently subject to greater vulnerability to corruption. Another way to look at the issue is to explore nature and values of the state, regime change and the anti-corruption vehicles which are
“institutionalized”. As Mungiu suggests (2006), regime changes and anti-corruption reforms fail if they try to adopt anti-corrupt institutions without reforming the ideals formed by the patrimonial set-up of the society. Institutionalizing anti-corruption vehicles alone, then, might not help.
2. Cases
from Philippines
The case of Philippines shows a rather grim
picture of massive scandals from time to time, with elites utilizing their
power and networks in the pursuit of personal interests – which is yet another
example of the “Oligarch and Clan” syndrome as per Johnston’s (2005)
characterization. The author then explains why the standard definition of
corruption as “use of public office for private gain” does not hold water or so
does the prism of legality, since most of the cases in Philippines fall within
the purview of the legal. The boundaries between personal-public and
legal-illegal then become blurred.
Analyzing
the Philippine society more would show us that the state would be an example of
“competitive particularism” (Mungiu, 2006), which is the intermediate state
between inherently patrimonialistic and universalistic states. Since the social
and political life impacts the values and ideals of a country, the first
question then to ask would be if corruption is the exception, or is it the
norm.
3. Cases
from Germany
The kind of
corruption prevalent in Germany is the "influence market"
syndrome (Johnston, 2005). Officials at the highest positions and rank of state
power market their influence, especially in the arena of policy
making.
While pursuing for certain "goods of effectiveness", certain "goods of excellence" are compromised by those in power. (Knight, 1998)
While pursuing for certain "goods of effectiveness", certain "goods of excellence" are compromised by those in power. (Knight, 1998)
According to
the study of Mungiu, Germany follows the pattern of "universalistic"
states. (Mungiu, 2006) He characterizes the corruption in these states as not
inherently political but rather as some exception to the ideals of the society.
This is brought out in the review which points out that the stability of the
polity is ensured by the apparent punitive action that is taken on these
corrupt politicians.
Citations:
Mungiu,
Alina. "Corruption: Diagnosis and treatment." Journal of
democracy 17, no. 3 (2006): 86-99.
Johnston,
Michael. “Syndromes of Corruption: Wealth, Power and Democracy”, Cambridge
University Press, 2005
Knight,
Kelvin. The MacIntyre Reader. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame
Press, 1998.
No comments:
Post a Comment