| BOOK
REVIEW
Corruption and Government: Causes, Consequences, and Reform
By Susan Rose-Ackerman
Cambridge University Press, The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2
2RU, UK, 1999 (http://www.cup.cam.ac.uk)
Pages: 266; Price: not stated
Reviewer: Kofi Akosah-Sarpong
in Montreal, Canada.
For long corruption has not received serious academic treatment
though as soon as there were the humanoid there has been corruption.
It is the key collapsing element in the destruction of nation-states,
empires and societies, including individuals. In Africa corruption is the spiritual cause of many an instability,
civil wars, coup d'etats, separatists agitations. As corruption mounts
in the face of decadence Nigeria's President Olosegun Obasanjo has
called for spiritual and moral regeneration as bulwark against the
destabilizing disease of corruption and other moral diseases that have
seen his country directionless. In one of his honest sides, albeit frustrating outburst, the late
Liberian President Samuel Kanyon Doe once remarked that corruption is
part of the Liberian culture and there is nothing he can do about it.
(In 1964 Basil Davidson wrote in WHICH WAY AFRICA? that Liberia was
the most corrupt country in the world). And as events in the rest of
Africa show, without stretching ones imagination, Doe's observation is
as correct as any African head of state will privately tell you--if
they are as honest as Samuel Doe. But do not mind Doe as extreme
corruption can be contained if the correct institutions are mounted,
informed by the culture and history of the country. But despite its destabilising force, corruption has not received
serious policy and scientific attention till recently when civil wars
sprawled and the grand-scale corruption by the Sani Abachas and the
Mobutu Sese Sekos roared continentally. Dr. Rose-Ackerman is one of
the few academics looking into the issue of corruption scientifically. In this very insightfully detailed book, Susan Rose-Ackerman, an
American law and political science professor at America's Yale
University, grapple with the complicated and slippery subject of
corruption globally, skillfully driving through different cultures,
traditions and histories in her handling of the human problem of
corruption. At the end she demonstrates beyond all reasonable doubt
that no matter ones culture or history or tradition or station in life
corruption is corruption is corruption whether you are in the North
Pole or you are in Timbuctu. Extreme corruption not only disturbs the socio-economic balance,
thus undermining the structure and function of the society, but limit
investment and growth and lead to ineffective government. "Developing countries and those making a transition from
socialism are particularly at risk, but corruption is a worldwide
phenomena. Corruption creates economic inefficiensies and inequities, but
reforms are possible to reduce the material benefits from pay-offs, " Dr. Rose-Ackerman states categorically in her comparison of
corruption among countries in the world. If Sani Abacha is the grand daddy of Nigerian corruption, the
author informs us that much more terrible corrupt things have happened
before in Nigeria and is still on-going. "In Nigeria in 1975 the
military government ordered cement that totalled two-thirds of the
estimated needs of all Africa and which exceeded the productive
capacity of Western Europe and the Soviet Union. The price exceeded
the international market price by a wide margin, presumably to make
room for kick-backs, and freight companies collected compensation for
having to wait in the clogged Lagos harbour. The cost to Nigeria was
US$2 billion, or one-fourth of 1975 oil revenues. " As much as each state's attempts to contain corruption should be
informed by its culture, tradition and history, Dr. Rose-Ackerman
offers that the solution is a two-way traffic--domestic and
international. However, Dr. Rose-Ackerman look too much at the global
nature of corruption without corresponding look at the local cultures
of societies--there is too much assumption that all societies are the
same. This is, however, to be expected since she wrote the book from
Western perspective which dominates global perspectives. In this regard, reform may require both constitutional structures
and the underlying relationship of the market and the state. "Effective reform cannot occur unless both the international
community and domestic political leaders support change. No single
"blueprint" is possible, but the primary goal should be to
reduce the gains from paying and receiving bribes, not simply to
remove "bad apples, " advises Dr. Rose-Ackerman. |