A THEORY OF CORRUPTION.

The article focuses on social aspects of corruption in West Africa. There is corruption in all governments and in the public services of all countries. Some countries, however, suffer from a greater degree of corruption than others. People sympathetic to African and other nationalist movements are sometimes tempted to brush aside corruption as being a passing phase of no real political or social importance. In a country where there is a great deal of corruption, political attacks on people in positions of power are easy to mount and easy to get popular support for. Much of the political history of some unfortunate countries could be told as the "ins" being accused, correctly, by the "outs" of corruption; popular indignation at the corruption causing the replacement of the "ins" by the "outs," who in turn become corrupt and are attacked by a new group of "outs." Corruption adds an incalculable hazard to the normal thickets of bureaucratic procedure. The final bribe is never paid. Investors and entrepreneurs are dismayed and frustrated, and may find that the unofficial cost of starting an enterprise is too great for it to be profitable.