NCJ Number
136419
Journal
Crime, Law, and Social Change Volume: 17 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1992) Pages: 25-51
Date Published
1992
Length
27 pages
Annotation
The political culture of Tanzania is compared to that of the U.S. in terms of corruption, bribery, and patriarchy.
Abstract
Corruption among the political leadership of both countries results from widespread popular equation of order with patriarchy and the extension of the logic of patriarchy to the belief that only the strength of the Nation State can ensure social order and welfare. The Tanzanian government's 1990 war on corruption, which included closing down the University of Dar es Salaam, demonstrated that the State applied the same model of legitimacy to its domestic and foreign policy as was applied privately by its citizens. The author maintains that corruption and violence are more directly expressed in Tanzania than in the U.S., making Americans more enslaved to these vices than Tanzanians. The contrast in Tanzanian and American political cultures and the nature of patriarchy itself leads to a paradoxical situation in terms of achieving freedom from corruption through the exercise of patriarchal State power. He argues that bribery can actually be part of the solution to the corruption problem as freedom from corruption requires democratic accountability. 20 references