Abstract
The significant increase in the attention given to corruption in recent times is largely due to an increasing awareness of the cost of corruption throughout the world and Africa in particular. In the African continent, corruption is a development issue that impedes the capacity and ability of governments to address the problem of poverty. In this chapter, a comparative analysis of how various forms of corruption have ravaged various African countries is made. The chapter draws on the literature of the conceptualization, causality, prevalence, socio-cultural underpinnings, manifestation and growth of corruption in Africa. A multidisciplinary approach and analysis of theories of corruption in the fields of sociology (collective action), economics (rational choice), cosmology (big bang theory) and criminology (general strain theory) were adopted and synthesized to explain the causality and nature of corruption in the continent, and draw policy-oriented conclusions. Secondary empirical data were sourced from Corruption Perception Index of the Transparency International, Africa Corruption Survey 2015 of Afrobarometer, as well as other institutes and individual researchers that have conducted transnational studies on corruption in Africa. In spite of the high awareness of and evidence showing the devastating effects of corruption on African development, this chapter concludes that for African leaders that engage in corrupt practices, the temptation to succumb to corruption is stronger and far exceeds any moral constraints or compassion for those that are victims of corruption. Therefore, aside from internal restraining measures to check corruption, there is a strong need for global leadership to constrain the behavior of corrupt African leaders through the placement of values on the reduction of poverty and suffering, and the resulting peace dividend.
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Aborisade, R.A., Aliyyu, N.B. (2018). Corruption and Africa. In: Akanle, O., Adésìnà, J. (eds) The Development of Africa . Social Indicators Research Series, vol 71. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66242-8_13
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