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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The politics of anti-corruption reform in Africa
Author:Lawson, LetitiaISNI
Year:2009
Periodical:Journal of Modern African Studies
Volume:47
Issue:1
Pages:73-100
Language:English
Geographic terms:Subsaharan Africa
Kenya
Nigeria
Subjects:corruption
State
reform
government policy
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/30224924
Abstract:Previous research on anti-corruption reform in Africa falls into two camps. The first explores 'best practices' and policy approaches to controlling corruption, while the second focuses on the politics of anti-corruption 'reform', arguing that official anti-corruption campaigns aim to mollify donors while using corruption charges instrumentally to undermine rivals and shore up personal loyalty to the president, and thus have no chance of controlling corruption. This paper suggests that, while the neopatrimonial context is a very significant limiting factor in anti-corruption reform, limited progress is possible. Examining the motivations and effects, intended and unintended, of anti-corruption reforms in Kenya and Nigeria, it finds that while the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission has indeed been politically marginalized and largely ineffectual, the more autonomous and activist, but politically instrumentalized, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Nigeria has had a measure of success. The analysis suggests that this is explained by the EFCC's independent prosecutorial powers and the institutionalization strategies of its chairman. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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