Document Library

Corruption and the Inequality Trap in Africa

Author: E Uslaner
Date: 2007
Size: 38 pages (295 KB)

Summary

Is corruption in Africa rooted in economic inequality, mistrust, or deficient institutions? This article from Afrobarometer, based on data from cross-national surveys, suggests that people see corruption as stemming from inequality–and leading to greater income disparities between the rich and the poor, between the powerful and the powerless. The fairness of the legal system is the central factor shaping people’s views of how equally people are treated.

Corruption stems from the unequal distribution of resources in a society. Economic inequality provides a fertile breeding ground for corruption and in turn leads to further inequalities. Inequality leads to low trust which leads to corruption, and back again to low trust and greater inequality. This process is described as the ‘inequality trap’. ‘Grand’ corruption refers to malfeasance of considerable magnitude by people who exploit their positions to get rich, such as political or business leaders. It extends the advantages of those already well endowed.’ Petty’ corruption involves small scale payoffs to doctors, police officers etc. This does not enrich those who practice it or exacerbate the gap between the rich and the poor.

What then are the features of the relationship between inequality, low trust and corruption, and what role do institutions play?

Inequality breeds corruption because it leads to resentment of out-groups (outside corruption or social networks) and enhanced in-group identity. Generalised trust, between strangers, based on a common bond between classes and races, is thus low.
The fairness of the legal system and the orientation of the party system also have an effect on corruption.
Corruption is based on a perverse form of trust: it takes at least two to bribe. It is also based on particularised trust, where people only have faith in their own kind.
Africans themselves see a clear link between inequality and corruption, though the connection to trust is less clear.

Data from the cross-national survey and for Nigeria in particular support the inequality trap argument, and point to areas needing greater attention in efforts to address corruption:

Government performance matters most for attitudes about corruption, but perceptions of equal treatment matter and rank very highly on statistical significance.
Approval of how well the government handles corruption depends on perceptions of grand corruption and not petty corruption (as in transition countries).
Perceptions of government performance also strongly shape attitudes toward how well the government handles corruption.
Perceptions of grand corruption shape beliefs on how frequently people are treated unfairly.
In many African countries, weak institutions are part of the inequality trap. Stronger institutions may be an important step in confronting the problems of inequality and corruption. However, more fundamental adjustment of economic and power relationships is critical.
Nigeria is one of the strongest cases of an inequality trap among African nations. Botswana, on the other hand, has high inequality but relatively low corruption. This may be because it is dependent on foreign investment and cannot afford corruption.

Access full text: available online

Source: Uslaner, E., 2007, 'Corruption and the inequality trap in Africa', Afrobarometer, Working Paper 69, IDASA, CDD-Ghana, and Michigan State University
Author: Eric Uslaner , euslaner@gvpt.umd.edu