"No longer at ease": corruption as an institution in West Africa

Dmitri van den Bersselaar, S. Decker

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This article traces the historical genesis of corruption in two West African countries: Ghana and Nigeria. It argues that corruption in Africa is an institution that emerged in direct response to colonial systems of rule which super-imposed an imported institutional system with different norms and values on an existing institutional landscape, despite the fact that both deeply conflicted and contradicted each other. During decolonization and after independence, corruption, although dysfunctional, fully evolved into an institution that allowed an uneasy cohabitation of colonial and domestic African institutions to grow into a composite, syncretic system facilitated by generalized corruption.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)741-752
Number of pages12
JournalInternational Journal of Public Administration
Volume34
Issue number11
Early online date26 Aug 2011
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2011

Bibliographical note

This is an electronic version of an article published in van den Bersselaar, D & Decker, S 2011, '"No longer at ease": corruption as an institution in West Africa', International Journal of Public Administration, vol 34, no. 11, pp. 741-752. International Journal of Public Administration is available online at: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&issn=0190-0692&volume=34&issue=11&spage=741

Keywords

  • corruption
  • institutional theory
  • colonial rule
  • decolonization
  • Ghana
  • Nigeria

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