Fuelling war or buying peace?: the role of corruption in conflicts

Corruption is endogenous to many political structures and serves key functions beyond the self-interest of public officials and politicians.

This paper states that:

• corruption participates in political ordering and forms part of the fabric of social relations
• conflicts may arise more from changes in the pattern of corruption, than from corruption itself
• domestic or external shocks affecting this pattern may lead to open conflicts reducing corruption

However, in a context of dwindling public rents and weak institutions, conflicts can degenerate into even further illegitimate and predatory rule characterized by a shift from monopolistic forms of corruption to criminal and competitive ones. Such pattern of corruption frequently 'fuels' violent conflicts. In this context and to the concern of peace is the relevance of corruption as a means for emerging rulers to establish a political order through the orchestration of a predatory hierarchy.

The paper suggests that:

• attempts to root out corruption, through civil sector reform or industrial demonopolization, without a reform towards a legitimate political process may lead to anarchy rather than economic efficiency
• structural adjustments and privatization schemes promoted or imposed by international financial institutions risk undermining the political balance of low-level and high-level corruption by limiting access to petty corruption while sustaining wealth concentration by simply transferring industries from the state to crony capitalists

The paper concludes that the positive functions of corruption need to be acknowledged when dealing with a country facing the prospects of anarchy and a move towards peace might consist of 'paying' for it by facilitating the emergence of a corrupt order.

However, given the long-term negative effects of such a policy, the challenge of peace-building initiatives and reforms is to shift individual incentives from competition over immediate corrupt gains towards broadly rewarding relations of benevolence and justice