The Limits, and Foundations, of Liberalization: Institutions, Civil Society, and Contrasting Corruption Problems in Africa.

The resurgence of interest in corruption during the 1990s was a welcome development, and recent work has taught us a great deal about the origins, nature, and consequences of corruption problems. But the new debate has been shaped by the interests driving the liberalization and integration of global markets, and thus is limited in critical ways. Specifically, corruption has most often been treated as both cause and effect of problems in economic liberalization that manifest themselves as high-level bribery, and that are essentially similar wherever they occur. Not surprisingly, further liberalization has been the primary recommendation for reform. A statistical examination of African states in comparison to others, however, suggests that the strength of political and economic institutions, and of civil society, are equally important in understanding corruption problems. Indeed, there is no single ‘African problem’ of corruption–rather, we see differing syndromes of corruption in various parts of the continent, as illustrated here by short case studies. Both analysis and reform require an understanding of the institutional, social, and historical factors shaping these contrasting realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]