Description
Book SynopsisIn
Moral Economies of Corruption Steven Pierce provides a cultural history of the last 150 years of corruption in Nigeria as a case study for considering corruption's dynamic nature, finding it to be a culturally contingent set of political discourses and historically embedded practices.
Trade Review"
Moral Economies of Corruption is not only rich history, but also a theoretically insightful analysis that has much to offer beyond its particularism. Scholars interested in corruption in other parts of Africa, and in other regions of the world, will find much to ponder and appreciate." -- Daniel Jordan Smith * American Ethnologist *
"[T]his is a superb and path-breaking book. Through meticulous attention to detail, it builds an argument that is as important as it is compelling. And, ironically, it is by refusing to compromise on historical and cultural specificity that it makes its most important contribution to understanding and engaging critically and constructively with a global discourse." -- Kate Hampshire * Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute *
"The strength of Pierce’s book is the depth of its historical excavation and the synchronization of relevant data on the diverse forms of corruption across Nigeria’s multitudinous ethnicities at different periods in the country’s over one hundred years of statehood." -- John Olushola Magbadelo * African Studies Quarterly *
"Pierce makes a significant contribution to the analysis of corruption in Nigeria by going beyond the dominant Eurocentric and neo-Weberian analyses, which are couched in universalistic, Eurocentric, and derogatory terms. . . . A useful addition to the study of Nigeria’s contemporary history and political culture." -- Jeremiah Dibua * American Historical Review *
"Nigerian corruption has attracted the attention of numerous scholars over the years, and this has given rise to a plethora of insightful analyses, from several different angles. However, Steven Pierce ... offers a new perspective and fresh insight into the discourse. ... Pierce has written a valuable book that focuses our attention on the fundamental problem of corruption in Nigeria." -- Azeez Olaniyan * African Studies Review *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix
Introduction: Corruption Discourse and the Performance of Politics 1
Part I. From Caliphate to Federal Republic
1. A Tale of Two Emirs: Colonialism and Bureaucratizing Emirates, 1900–1948 27
2. The Political Time: Ethnicity and Violence, 1948–1970 63
3. Oil and the "Army Arrangement": Corruption and the Petro-State, 1970–1999 105
Part II. Corruption, Nigeria, and the Moral Imagination
4. Moral Economies of Corruption 153
5. Nigerian Corruption and the Limits of the State 188
Conclusion 219
Notes 231
Bibliography 257
Index 277
