Actually Existing Globalisation: Corruption on the Periphery
Readings
Sarah Chayes, Thieves of State (2015)
Rory Stewart, “The Irresistible Illusion” in London Review of Books (2009)
Based on long experience in US-occupied Afghanistan, Sarah Chayes argues that corruption fuels violence. But who will take responsibility for ridding the world of corruption, and how could it be done? Rory Stewart contrasts the realism of 19th century British imperialists with the abstraction and impracticality of contemporary bureaucrats. This week looks at what has actually happened where Western force has been used to spread democracy.
Some of the key takeaways of what was discussed during our discussion on this weeks material on the 20/5
- Identifying how corruption works
- What does corruption look like in the future
- Magnitski act prequel to blockchain
- Corruption in universities
- Corruption is in conflicting with nationalism
- State building v nation building
Some musings on the above points
- Identifying how corruption works
Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It can be classified as grand, petty and political, depending on the amounts of money lost and the sector where it occurs.
We were curious if there was a universal definition of corruption or if this would be interpreted differently by different societies. Another point that we were unable to decipher was the ability for a growing economy to have increased corruption, rather than the other way around.
We established that the money always flows to the top. The more money flows to the top, the more corrupt the economy is? With this in mind we can if a country whose economy has grown in the past say 20 years and arguably the corrupt rich have become richer from the country performing as a whole, as well as increased levels of corruption being in place. The point of interest here is to establish how well the remaining population is doing. Should peoples lives be improving, corruption is a lesser point of interest, however, should the economy be stagnant or receding corruption is a much greater threat to the country’s issues.
Chaye’s book is a very interesting read to understand how corruption leads to extremism in 2nd and 3rd world economies. It would have been interesting to have been given more first world examples. We did discuss a few ourselves, the House of Lords for example, as well as the university admission scandal in the US, more on that later.
2. What does corruption look like in the future
The handling of cash has make corruption more accessible, that being said, I was watching a Google talk with Frank Abagnale (The Story of ‘Catch Me If You Can’ was based on his life) and he me made the point that it would be much easier to do what he did today with the advances in technology. We discussed that the blockchain will lead to improved security measure in building “trust” networks and therefor diminishing the risk of corruption. After sleeping on it the concern of increased corruption due to technological advancements has risen.
The point was made that Larry & Sergey are arguably more powerful than any individual world leader. How will states use these large technology firms to their benefit. The example of Huawei and the current roll out of its technology in the west without a clear understanding of who the beneficial owners/directors of the company are.
3. Magnitski act prequel to blockchain
We briefly touched on the blockchain earlier. This example given was with regards to the American businessman Bill Browder who authored a book called Red Notice. I’ll let you read the book, however, the point of interest with the Magnitski Act is that it prevents corrupt individuals from other countries from spending their loot in the UK and other countries who’ve signed the act, effectively a black list. The role technology could play in this is increased transparency to past transactions and therefor more easily policeable.
4. Corruption in universities
The example was given on the US university scandal. It is above board to write a cheque to the school for new infrastructure to improve your child’s likelihood of success when applying. On the flip side, it is a federal crime to bride the admissions board. This does answer well to the definition given above “Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”. Should the student body benefit from a new swimming pool that is not for private gain so therefor not corruption.
5. Corruption is in conflicting with nationalism
We tried to break down the association between nationalism and corruption. The example was given that corruption in West Africa is not actually from the locals but rather immigrants.
“In Africa, specifically Nigeria, Ghana, Angola, and Sierra Leone it is reported that at least 35% of the national economy is controlled by Lebanese involved in some sort of illicit activity.”
The above extract is taken from the Lebanese Mafia Wikipedia page. I had no idea about the level of corruption in these places conducted by international criminal organisations. We see this with the refugee crisis and many other corrupt nations. We are curious to better understanding should a country have high levels of nationalism, Norway, Israel, New Zealand would the level of corruption be lowered to a manageable level. Peter Thiel once said, “how little corruption is not enough”? Just to caveat the above, I mean nationalism in the traditional sense of being nationalistic, rather than the more modern take on thing of being more far right winged.
6. State building v nation building
Why did Japan work so well and why did Afghanistan fail. One of the conclusions we jumped to was that by removing the top layer of government and implementing one the country may have a higher chance of successful anticorruption strategies if we believe that all corruption leads to the top.
“After the defeat of Japan in World War II, the United States led the Allies in the occupation and rehabilitation of the Japanese state. Between 1945 and 1952, the U.S. occupying forces, led by General Douglas A. MacArthur, enacted widespread military, political, economic, and social reforms.”
Would this have been possible today in Afghanistan, most likely not due to colonialism arguments, however, is there a bigger conversation at play? The arguments were that a rebuilding of a state is much easier than the rebuilding of a nation. Gordon Brown believed that the country could be turned into a democracy like that of Malaysia’s and Obama feared it would become a terrorist breeding ground like that of the pirates of Somalia. Given the nature of Afghanistan geography it is likely that it will take on that of one of its neighbours, however, Stewart believes the questions will remain which one of its neighbours political systems.
“But Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan present a bewildering variety of states: an Islamist theocracy, a surreal mock-tribal autocracy, a repressive secular dictatorship, a country trembling on the edge of civil war, a military dictatorship cum democracy.”
