Corruption as an Empty Signifier

Lucy Koechlin, Ph.D. (2010), University of Basel, is senior lecturer of Social Anthropology. Previously, she worked as international expert on governance. She has published and co-edited numerous contributions on corruption and accountability, including Non-state Actors as Standard Setters (CUP, 2009).

• ContentsList of Figures, Tables and Boxes AcknowledgementsList of AbbreviationsIntroduction Corruption, Politics and Africa1. ‘Corruption ruins lives: take action!’2. Development Discourse: Good Governance and the ‘Anti-Corruption Machine’3. ‘Rational’, ‘Rotten’ or ‘Routine’: What is Corruption? 4. Discourses of Corruption, Discourses of Africa 5. Methodology and Organisation of the Enquiry1 The Academic Discourse: Political Order and Corruption in Africa 1. Introduction2. Corruption and Political Development: Assimilation and Integration 3. The Political Economy of Corruption: Rules and Regimes 4. The Moral Economy of Corruption: Values and Practices 5. The Order of Disorder: Power, Authority and Accumulation6. Conceptualising Corruption: The Question of Agency7. Conclusions: Corruption, (Dis)Order and Agency 2 Sketching Out an Emancipatory Discourse: Corruption, Political Spaces and Social Imaginaries 1. Introduction2. Reinserting Politics: A Political Theory of Corruption3. Civil Society: The Omni-Present Absence in Africa4. The State of the Economy 5. Organized Business Interests6. Professional Associations in Africa 7. The Politics of Corruption Interlude A Topography of Corruption in Tanzania 1. Why a Topography?2. A Bird’s Eye View: Development, Governance and Corruption in Tanzania3. Qualified Views of Corruption in Tanzania4. An Overview over Corruption in Tanzania 3 Democratic Spaces in the Making? Professional Associations and Corruption in 2003 1. Background: From the Politics of Integrity (Julius Nyerere 1962–1985) to the Politics of Shamelessness (Ali Hassan Mwinyi 1985–1995) 2. Benjamin Mkapa (1995–2005)—‘Zero-Tolerance of Corruption’ 3. Regulatory Framework and Anti-Corruption Institutions4. Governance Policies in the Construction Industry5. Corruption and Professional Associations in the Tanzanian Construction Industry 6. Hegemonies and Fixations of Corruption: Some Preliminary Conclusions4 Closures of Democratic Spaces? Professional Associations and Corruption in 2010 1. Introduction2. Jakaya Kikwete—‘A dedicated spirit of government’?3. Governance and Anti-Corruption Reforms in the Regulatory Framework 4. Governance Reforms in the Construction Industry5. Professional Associations and Corruption in the Construction Industry6. ‘Our voice is not heard’: Perspectives on Public Officials 7. Hegemonies and Fixations of Corruption: Conclusions in Space and Time Conclusions Corruption, Politics and Political Order 1. Corruption, Development and Political Order2. Reassessing the Academic Discourse on Corruption in Africa 3. The Politics of Corruption as an Empty Signifier 4. Corruption, Identity and Democratic Politics BibliographyIndex