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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:When corruption fights back: democracy and elite interest in Nigeria's anti-corruption war
Authors:Adebanwi, WaleISNI
Obadare, EbenezerISNI
Year:2011
Periodical:Journal of Modern African Studies (ISSN 0022-278X)
Volume:49
Issue:2
Pages:185-213
Language:English
Geographic term:Nigeria
Subjects:corruption
government policy
administrative agencies
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/23018919
Abstract:In Nigeria no less than three attempts at democratization arguably failed due largely to corruption. In the light of the assumption that democracies lead to a lower incidence of corruption, this essay analyses the construction of the anti-corruption war under the civilian government in Nigeria between 1999 and 2008. The most popular and most controversial of the anti-corruption agencies established during this period was the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The authors consolidate existing insights in the literature in three key ways. First, they show that in democratizing contexts like Nigeria, the gravest threats to anti-corruption campaigns often emanate from a combination of intra-elite rancour and political intrigue. Second, they provide an explanation of what happens when, literally, corruption fights back. Finally, they suggest that where anti-corruption efforts are not backed by other radical institutional reforms, they fall prey to the overall endemic (systemic) crisis, a part of which, ab initio, necessitated the anti-corruption war. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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