Negotiating corruption

Laura Routley’s book provides an intimate account of how Nigerian NGOs negotiate the complex and often competing demands of international donors and local political constraints to carry out their objectives of serving their constituencies. The title describes the ways in which they fudge international legal-rational norms within local ‘economies of affection’ to produce ‘grey practices’ that tease and trouble received understandings of corruption. But the book delivers far more than this: it becomes, through the use of a careful theoretical reading of these practices using Foucault’s governmentality and Bhabha’s hybridity, an account of how Nigerian civil society understands, engages and ultimately brings about the state. On one level we have a finely observed account of the day-to-day operations of three Nigerian NGOs – one working on legal and human rights, one on violence against women and one on healthcare. Routley calls these ‘national NGOs’, distinct from ‘international’ or ‘local’ because they are perceived to be ‘both local and anti-corruption agents’ (p. 10). They are all based in eastern Nigeria, staffed by Nigerians, and engage with various state organs to serve their client bases. Although they vary in size, all are run within tight financial constraints, largely dependent on foreign financial support. They attempt to carry out their roles of serving their constituents by making the Nigerian legal and political systems work. These organizations, says Routley, are staffed by largely principled pragmatists who skilfully work within a precarious complex of local and international expectations and norms.

Corporate governance · Economics · Governmentality · Hybridity · Language change · Negotiation · Nigerians · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · State (computer science) · African history and culture studies · Economic Growth and Development · International Development and Aid · Law · Public Administration