Apologies for cross posting
Call for papers
Commission on Folk Law and Legal Pluralism
Conference
Law, Plural Society and Social Cohesion
August 26-29 2004, Fredericton New Brunswick, Canada
PANEL:
CORRUPTION AND STATES OF ILLEGALITY
PANEL ORGANIZERS:
Monique Nuijten, Rural Development Sociology,
Wageningen University
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Gerhard Anders, Faculty of Law, University of
Rotterdam
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In this panel we intend to discuss the possible
contributions of legal anthropology to the study of
corruption. Although legal anthropology has been
strong in the analysis of practices ‘in the shadow of
the law’ and in the study of socio-political
arrangements that constitute an alternative to the
official law of the state, it has contributed
relatively little to discussions on corruption. This
is odd considering that the discipline’s raison d’ętre
is the discrepancy between the law in the books and
‘living law’/law in action.
We think that the twofold focus in legal anthropology
on a) the gap between the idealized order and actual
patterns of ordering and on b) the plurality of legal
orders, i.e. legal pluralism, has the potential to
push empirical research and theoretical reasoning on
corruption further. So far, social scientific debate
on corruption has been almost exclusively a domain of
economists and political scientists. Despite the
undeniable merits of this type of research we believe
that the dichotomies between legal/illegal and
moral/immoral and issues such as the transgression,
negation and manipulation of norms and rules require a
perspective that is more ‘legal’ and more
anthropological at the same time.
We invite presentations that address issues such as
the public/private dichotomy, the existence of other
normative orderings that might endorse or accept
practices labeled as corrupt by state law and the
connections between the realm of the legal and the
realm of the illicit. For example, what is corruption?
Is corruption useful as an analytical category
considering the normativity of the term? Obviously,
corruption is a container concept, a label that is
used for a wide variety of phenomena. In addition, it
is not clear how to separate corruption from similar
phenomena, such as gift giving, exchange relations,
clientelism, patronage, networking, etc. Should we
make a classification of corrupt activities, and/ or
distinguish between degrees of corruption?
We suggest four fields of discussion for this panel.
- Firstly, how can we make sense of the public/private
dichotomy if we acknowledge the fact that in many
states social networks based on kinship and patronage
penetrate the state bureaucracy? These networks often
thrive in a situation of legal or normative pluralism
resulting in a field of ambiguity and room for
maneuvering. But is there always an alternative set of
rules regulating corrupt practices? Can we always
assume the existence of legal plurality with regard to
so-called corruption, for example, does an institution
as the Mafia has an internal legal order?
- Secondly, several authors have recently stressed the
excessive side of corruption as part of a culture of
power. Here it is shown how illicit profits are spent
in ostentatious consumption, sexual excesses, hedonism
and escapism. It is also demonstrated how the politics
of the bureaucratic labyrinth gives rise to endless
conspiracy theories and the most fantastic stories.
How do these strongly performative, ritualistic and
cultural dimensions of corruption relate to morality
and law?
- Thirdly, the legal and the illegal are not always
opposites but, instead, two sides of the same coin.
Zones of illegality do not stand apart from the state,
as they are often maintained by negotiations with the
state apparatus. From this follows the question
whether the rational bureaucratic order depends on a
subterranean realm of the illegal as much as
corruption depends on the existence of a formal
bureaucratic order.
- Fourthly, research should problematize the discourse
and talk of corruption. There is much talking of the
fight against corruption in policy circles and the
accusation of corruption is often used in political
struggles. Yet, bureaucrats as well as other parts of
the population also talk a lot about corruption in
other contexts. So, besides being a political
instrument, the talk of corruption can also be
analyzed as one of the ways in which the relation
between people and the state is shaped, or the ways in
which people relate to the state.
Presentations do not necessarily have to address one
of these four fields. They may also address the theme
of corruption in a different way or combine several
fields of discussion.
If you would like to give a presentation in this panel
we look forward to receive
- Your abstract by January 1st, 2004.
- Full-length papers (15-20 pages) should be submitted
by June 15, 2004.
You may contact us any time.
E-mail: [log in to unmask], phone:
+31-(0)317- 484714.
E-mail: [log in to unmask], phone: +31-(0)10-4082265.
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