Peter J. Perry - Political Corruption and Political Geography

PETER JOHN PERRY

Reader in Geography,
University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

First published 1997 by Ashgate Publishing

Reissued 2018 by Routledge
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Copyright Peter John Perry 1997

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A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number: 97001226

ISBN 13: 978-1-138-32996-6 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-429-44807-2 (ebk)

This is an unhappy book, even though I have enjoyed writing it. It is unhappy by reason of its subject matter, a matter so generally depressing political corruption has done almost nothing to increase the sum of human happiness that generations of scholars, geographers among them, have generally ignored it. The aim is then to expose the scandal of wilful scholarly concealment sometimes called the too hard basket of what is one of the driving forces of the worlds political systems and political geographies at every scale from global to parochial. The scandal is more evident in political geography than in any other domain and it is to that audience that the book is particularly but not solely addressed, seeking to convince that corruption matters, that as a political process it is at least as important to geography as its counterparts such as due legal process. Since the scandal is inter alia a matter of ignorance as well as of convenience the book cannot take the form of a closely argued account of the connexions between political corruption and geography. Before such an account can be essayed, firstly a general discussion of the phenomenon of political corruption must be provided, not least because popular opinion widely and diversely misunderstands and misrepresents it, to which only secondly can be attached an initial and introductory account of interrelationships. Nor on the other hand is a comprehensive account of political corruption required, such as Heidenheimer, Johnston and Levine supplied in 1989, a true handbook as its sub-title claims. Rather I seek to introduce the subject in terms appropriate to my field and my colleagues and to begin the task of generating discussion: first words rather than last. My interest in the subject began in the early 1980s with a dissatisfaction born of experience in undergraduate teaching. A lengthy gestation has taken the project into a period when throughout the world the phenomenon of political corruption has become more and more conspicuous, its political significance widely recognised, and public opinion generally, albeit often confusedly, hostile. (There is almost the danger that by comparison with the early periods of this change in status political corruption will be taken for granted.) What remains is for the scholarly community at large, and geography in particular, to wake up and catch up: the role of this book is to sound the essential reveille.

Christchurch, New Zealand
November 1996

This book could not exist without the help I have had from numerous colleagues, a wide circle of friends and a supportive family. Some of the most important cannot even be named for fear of the consequences to them and their families: for this reason some material in the text remains unreferenced. Their direct and indirect help is gratefully acknowledged from the comfort and security of an office desk in what is, at least by reputation, an almost corruption free country. Colleagues in the Department of Geography at the University of Canterbury have always been willing helpers, listeners and critics in a friendly and stimulating environment. The technical and secretarial staff of the department have been invariably helpful, especially Linda Harrison who has typed numerous drafts and revisions. The University of Canterbury generously granted study leave in 1993 when most of the reading was done. In more general terms it remains an institution where curiosity driven scholarship, unencumbered by the demand for proposals and approvals, has an evident place: long may this essential of the university remain. Scholarship depends on libraries and I have welcomed the predictable, but I hope never taken for granted, expertise and helpfulness of librarians in general and especially at Canterbury and Cambridge. Permission to reproduce cartoons from The Economist, Times of India, Burkhard Mohr (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) and The Guardian is gratefully acknowledged. Transparency International came into existence more or less as I began this book and the materials which it publishes have been a precious resource, so too the interest of Jeremy Pope its Managing Director who read and helpfully commented upon an early version; as also did Andrew Church of Birkbeck College, London University while an academic visitor to Canterbury. My subject matter is not an easy one from the publishers perspective and so I thank Dartmouth and its staff for their support. Together we have made this book: responsibility for what it says remains with the author alone.

FEER Far Eastern Economic Review

FT Financial Times

NYT New York Times

SEAM South East Asia Monitor

SMH South East Asia Monitor

Most of the scholarly disciplines which might a priori be expected to have a great deal to say about political corruption political science, economics, sociology for example in fact say very little. There remains an unwritten section on graft to quote the cogent observation of The Economist in 1957 (Economist, 15 June 1957). The paraphernalia of academic success and respectability, books, articles, journals, conferences, research grants, are few and the sole specialist journal Corruption and Reform lasted less than a decade before in 1993 it was absorbed into another Crime, Law and Social Change. Resort to abstracting journals or the indexes of books on places and subjects where corruption has an evident role produces similarly frustrating results. (Perhaps the very structure of many disciplines marginalises the topic?) Such results are a better indicator of the topics scholarly status than are the bibliographies constructed by the authors of books on the subject, impressive and wide ranging as they may be. For whatever reason several are proposed below there is a huge disparity between the real world significance of political corruption and the amount of scholarly attention which it receives.