The Peripheral State and Corruption in The Global South

Abstract

Corruption is a major enduring feature of the political economies of the states in the Global South. It finds expression in various illegal and unethical practices, including bribery, extortion, embezzlement, and fraudulent procurement schemes, perpetrated particularly by public officials occupying various positions in the branches of government and the constituent agencies. Two of the major emergent issues are: (a) What are the major causes of corruption in the Global South? and (b) What are the modalities for addressing the scourge of corruption? The corpus of scholarly literature that has emerged to address these two interlocking questions has focused on the causal factors of corruption, such as elite pathologies and institutional weaknesses, and on legal and institutional reforms as major remedies. In this article, the major contention is that the extant scholarly literature has neglected the peripheral state as a major motor force for corruption in the Global South. This article examines the role of the peripheral state in the Global South in the perpetration of corruption and suggests its democratic reconstitution as the major panacea.