Political corruption in Africa: Extraction and power preservationInge Amundsen (2019, Ed) Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK.224 pages, ISBN number 1788972511, 9781788972512

• Published date: 01 November 2020
• Author: Theresa Robberts
• Date: 01 November 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2180

BOOK REVIEW

Political corruption in Africa: Extraction and power

preservation

Edited by Inge Amundsen (2019, Ed)

Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK.224 pages, ISBN number 1788972511, 9781788972512

The book is an edited collection of seven case studies on corruption

in countries in Africa which cover Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda,

Mozambique, Malawi and South Africa.

The text focuses on the distinction between political corrup-

tion and bureaucratic (administrative) corruption. Manyresearches

in the field of corruption have not made this distinction. This sepa-

ration is however essential not only for analysis and measurement

but for the design ofanti-corruption tools and campaigns.The

writers of this book distinguish between two forms of corruption

namely Political (Grand) corruption and Administrative corruption.

Political Corruption is corrupt action by elected politicians and

Administrative Corruption by employees of the public sector.

Administrative Corruption can be curbed by means of legislation

and punishments such as sanctions, but Political Corruption is far

more difficult to combat as those in power would not be in favor

of this process.

The authors then focus on two forms of Political Corruption:

Extractive and Power Preserving Political Corruption. Extractive

Political Corruption is when a politician uses corrupt means to

extract wealth to the benefit of themselves, their families and

friends for example embezzlement, bribery and fraud. Power Pre-

serving Political Corruption takes place when the aforementioned

resources (gained via corruptive means) are utilized to strengthen

the position of the politician and party in question. The authors

claim that this form of corruption cannot be measured by using the

same measurement tools (developed by the World Bank and

Transparency International) used when measuring other general

forms of corruption.

The case studies of the seven countries paint a distressing picture

of where corruption has become the norm. All examples point to the

fact that corruption erupts with the birth of democracy. The two

types of Political Corruption namely Extractive and Power Preserva-

tion feed into one another and the result is a vicious circle that would

be very hard to break. The author's guidance on measuring corruption

comes across with an air of optimism and leaves us with the hope that

the war against corruption might still be won.

The research in this book includes case studies up to 2019. It

would be very interesting to see the authors take on what impact the

COVID 19 pandemic will have on the hold of corrupt politicians as

they state that the one thing that can break the cycle of Political

Corruption is a national disaster and/or economic upset.

Theresa Robberts

Business Research Institute, University of Chester, Chester, UK

Correspondence

Theresa Robberts, Business Research Institute, University of Chester,

Churchill House, Queens Park, Chester CH4 7JJ, UK.

Email: theresa.robberts@chester.ac.uk

ENDNOTES

1

World Bank (1997)Define Corruption as Abuse of public power for private

benefit.

2

Transparency International (TI) is world's most well-known and respected

anti-corruption NGO.

A Book Review for the Journal of Public Affairs.

Received: 7 May 2020Accepted: 7 May 2020

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2180

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reprodu ction in any medium,

provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2020 The Author. Journal of Public Affairs published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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