Corruption between public and private moralities: The Albanian case in a comparative perspective

• Authors: Giuliana Prato
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This essay draws on comparative ethnographic material from Albania and Italy. It addresses different forms of corruption, arguing that in order to understand the way in which phenomena such as corruption occur and are experienced in any given society, we should contextualize them in the historical and cultural traditions of that specific society. In doing so, however, we should be alert in avoiding falling into the trap of either moral relativism or cultural determinism. The essay suggests that an anthropological analysis of corruption should distinguish between legal rules and social norms. In particular, the empirical study of such norms helps to understand the meanings-both individual and inter-subjective-that actors give to the social and political situation in which they operate.

Keywords

EN

Albania; Italy; party rule; regime change; social norms; informal networks

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Human Affairs
• Year: 2013
• Volume: 23
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 196-211

Dates

published

2013-04-01

online

2013-03-28

Contributors

author

Giuliana Prato

• The University of Kent

References

• [1] Bardhoshi, N. (2011). An Ethnography of Land Market in Albania’s Post-Socialist Informal Areas. Urbanities [Online] 1(1), 11–20. Available at: http://www.anthrojournal-urbanities.com.
• [2] Bohannan, P. (1965). The Differing Realms of the Law. In L. Nader (Ed.). The Ethnography of Law. Special Issue of American Anthropologist 67, 33–42.
• [3] Burawoy, M. and Verdery, K. (1999). Introduction. In M. Burawoy and K. Verdery (Eds.). Uncertain Transition. Ethnographies of Change in the Postsocialist World. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
• [4] Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana. Rome: Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato.
• [5] Fuller, L. (1969). The Morality of Law. New Haven: Yale University Press.
• [6] Greenhouse, C.J. (1982). Looking at Culture, Looking at Rules. Man (n.s.), 17, 58–73.
• [7] Hasluck, M. (1954). The Unwritten Law in Albania. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kodi Penal i Republikës së Shqipëisë (1988). Tirana.
• [8] Kregar, J. (1994). Deformation of Oganizational Principles: Corruption in Post-Socialist Societies. In D.V. Trang (Ed.). Corruption and Democracy. Budapest: Institute for Constitutional and Legislative Policy.
• [9] Mosca, G. (1923). Elementi di scienza politica. Bari: Laterza.
• [10] Nilsson, H. (1994). Substantive Criminal Law: Corruption and Money laundering. In D.V. Trang (Ed.). Corruption and Democracy. Budapest: Institute for Constitutional and Legislative Policy.
• [11] Pardo, I. (1996). Managing Existence in Naples: Morality, Action and Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511621802[Crossref]
• [12] Pardo, I. (2000a). Introduction. Morals of Legitimacy: Interplay between Responsibility, Authority and Trust. In I. Pardo (Ed.) Morals of Legitimacy. Between Agency and System. Oxford: Berghahn Books.
• [13] Pardo, I. (2000b). When Power Lacks Legitimacy: Relations of Politics and Law to Society in Italy. In I. Pardo (Ed.). Morals of Legitimacy. Between Agency and the System. Oxford: Berghahn Books.
• [14] Pardo, I. (2001). Elite senza fiducia: ideologie, etiche di potere, legittimit. Catanzaro: Rubettino.
• [15] Pardo, I. (2004). Introduction: Corruption, Morality and the Law. In I. Pardo (Ed.). Between Morality and the Law: Corruption, Anthropology and Comparative Society. Aldershot: Ashgate.
• [16] Pardo, I. (Ed.). (2000a). Morals of Legitimacy. Between Agency and System. Oxford: Berghahn Books.
• [17] Pardo, I. (Ed.). (2000b). Corruzione tra moralitá e legge. Rome: Sviluppo Economico.
• [18] Pardo, I. (Ed.). (2004). Between Morality and the Law. Corruption, Anthropology and Comparative Society. Aldershot: Ashgate.
• [19] Pardo, I. and Prato, G.B. (Eds.). (2010). Citizenship and the Legitimacy of Governance in the Mediterranean Region. Aldershot: Ashgate.
• [20] Pardo, I. and Prato, G.B. (Eds.). (2012). Anthropology in the City: Methodology and Theory. Farnham: Ashgate.
• [21] Pareto, V. (1964 [1916]). Trattato di Sociologia Generale. Milano: Edizioni di Comunit.
• [22] Paterna, D. (2000). Tipi di corruzione e riforme legali in Albania. In I. Pardo (Ed.). Corruzione tra moralitá e legge. Rome: Sviluppo Economico.
• [23] Polanyi, K. (1944). The Great Transformation. Reinehart: New York.
• [24] Prato, G.B. (1993). Political Decision-Making: Environmentalism, Ethics and Popular Participation in Italy. In K. Milton (Ed.). Environmentalism: A View from Anthropology. London: Routledge.
• [25] Prato, G.B. (2000a). The Cherries of the Mayor: Degrees of Morality and Responsibility in Local Italian Administration. In I. Pardo (Ed.). Morals of Legitimacy: Between Agency and the System. Oxford: Bergahan Books.
• [26] Prato, G.B. (2000b). Corruzione, globalizzazione e cambiamento in Albania. In I. Pardo (Ed.). Corruzione tra moralitá e legge. Rome: Sviluppo Economico.
• [27] Prato, G.B. (2004). “The Devil is not as Wicked as People Believe, neither is the Albanian”: Corruption between Moral Discourses and National Identity. In I. Pardo (Ed.). Between Morality and Law. Corruption, Anthropology and Comparative Societies. Aldershot: Ashgate.
• [28] Prato, G. B. (2009). Minorities in Italy: The Cases of Arberëresh and Albanian Migrations. In G. B. Prato (Ed.). Beyond Multiculturalism: Views from Anthropology. Farnham: Ashgate.
• [29] Prato, G. B. (2010). The “Costs” of European Citizenship: Governance and Relations of Trust in Albania. In I. Pardo and G. B. Prato (Eds.). Citizenship and the Legitimacy of Governance in the Mediterranean Region. Farnham: Ashgate.
• [30] Prato, G.B. (2012). Anthropological Research in Urban Italy and Albania: Methodological Reflections. In I. Pardo and G.B. Prato (Eds.). Anthropology in the City: Methodology and Theory. Farnham: Ashgate.
• [31] Raxhimi, A. (2002). A Long and Winding Road, TOL, 16 October. Available at: www.tol.com
• [32] Sahlins, M. (1965). On the Sociology of Primitive Exchange. In M. Banton (Ed.). The Relevance of Models for Social Anthropology. London: Tavistock.
• [33] Saltmarshe, D. (2001). Identity in a Post-Communist Balkan State: An Albanian Village Study. Aldershot: Ashgate.
• [34] Trang, D.V. (Ed.). (1994). Corruption and Democracy. Budapest: Institute for Constitutional and Legislative Policy.
• [35] Weber, M. (1974). Politics as Vocation. In H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills (Eds.). From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
• [36] Weber, M. (1978). Economy and Society. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/s13374-013-0119-3