Thieves of State: Why corruption threatens global security
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2016
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South African Journal of International Affairs
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Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
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University of Cape Town
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Faculty
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Abstract
Corruption is a global phenomenon that is multi-layered and stubbornly resilient. As researchers we compartmentalise our study of corruption into dimensions that focus either on the drivers of corrupt activity within the intricate web of relationships forged between political, bureaucratic and private actors, or the design and efficacy of ‘anti-corruption’ measures intended to combat and control malfeasance. Although this distinction helps to give normative impetus to the need to stem the considerable damage wrought by corruption on the legitimacy and policy outcomes pursued by states, it risks minimising the entrenched institutionalised risk that corruption has always posed in the functioning of state institutions. In this regard, corruption is less a pathological defect in how institutions operate – something that can simply be ‘combatted’ by a range of ‘anti-corruption’ enforcement measures – and more an inherent risk in the functioning of these institutions, albeit a more acute risk depending on prevailing circumstances.
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Reference:
Naidoo, V. (2016). Review: Thieves of State: Why corruption threatens global security. South African Journal of International Affairs, 23(1), 123-133.