The Challenge of the Corruption-Violence Connection

• Author: Anthony P. Maingot
• Pages: 129-153

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The Challenge of the Corruption-Violence Connection

The Challenge of the

Corruption-Violence Connection

Anthony P. Maingot

Introduction

Anyone following the news emanating from the four corners of the world

will quickly notice the repeated juxtaposition of two phenomena: widespread

corruption and persistent conflict and violence. Note the link between

corruption, violence and underdevelopment made by the highly influential

Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times:1

Corruption has undermined the efficiency of capitalism in South America

and eroded support for markets. It’s one reason too many South Americans

see foreign investors and lenders only as exploiters.... Unless we pitch in to

fight corruption, unless we help build the case for markets, then much of

South America will spin out of control – ultimately looking like that angry

street scene in Caracas.

In the mid-1990s in Jamaica, the fear that violence would undermine the

nation’s economy led to the secondment of Col. Trevor MacMillan from the

army to the police. It was the beginning of the militarisation of the war

against violence, akin to what was being called ‘the war on drugs’. Col.

MacMillan, however, saw it as a battle against ‘criminality, corruption and

power abuse’, even in the police services.2 Clearly the juxtaposition of social

trends, even where a correlation is proven, is not the same as establishing a

causal link. Is there a causal relationship between widespread corruption

and violent conflict? Note that the dependent variable is violent conflict, not

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Caribbean Security in the Age of Terror

simply conflict. The latter can safely be presumed to exist in varying degrees

in all social interactions and social change. Democratic systems can and do

coexist with even relatively high levels of conflict. Violence, including acts

of terrorism, on the other hand, involves a qualitatively different order of

social relations. Violence involves a breakdown in the pattern of expectations

and assumptions about social relations either at the point of goals and/or at

the level of means towards those goals.

It is this breakdown which can properly be called a crisis in the social

system, a crisis which often has – intended or unintended – destabilising

consequences for political systems, whether democratic or not. Indeed, it is

evident that this destabilisation is the intended goal of terrorist violence.

Other forms of violence, such as kidnapping, even though it does not have

the intended goal of political destabilisation, do contribute to doubts about

the effectiveness of the system. At what point does lack of confidence in the

effectiveness of the system begin to reduce legitimacy? What, then, is the

causal relationship between widespread corruption, violent conflict and its

contribution to a crisis in existing social, economic and political order?

Theoretical Approaches

The enormous contemporary interest in the subject is evident in the most

important compilation published so far, that of Arnold J. Heidenheimer.3 The

variety of theoretical approaches evident in that volume attest to the

universality of the phenomenon but also to the absence of any single body of

theory with which to study it. Each student starts the theoretical debate anew.

The comprehensive and incisive study by Stephen D. Morris4 begins with a

long discourse and analysis of the existing theories and why they do not

apply to his case. Other studies tend to repeat such disclaimers. Not

surprisingly, the applicability of Morris’ model has yet to be tested by others.

The conclusion one must reach is that there is no single, widely accepted

body of theory for the study of corruption much less is there any theorising

on the possible links between widespread corruption and violence. A review

of the literature will illustrate the point. In 1967, J.S. Nye published one of

the early social science analyses of corruption.5 He telescoped his basic premise

by prefacing his essay with a 1714 quote from one Bernard Madevile who

maintained that ‘private vices by the dexterous Management of a skilful

Politician may be turned into Public Benefits’. This represented an early

version of what has been labelled the realist or functionalist approach to

corruption. Nye joins their ranks when he concluded that the topic was ‘too