The state as marketplace: Slush funds and intra-elite rivalry

Abstract

Why is the state so weak and erratic in enforcing legislated sanctions against corrupt and criminal behaviour? 19 This question is usually referred to as the problem of ‘implementation’, as though the failure was simply one of administrative competence or a confusion of priorities. Critics also frequently cite ‘lack of political will’, which is no more insightful. Such rationalizations blur the essential distinction between the state as it should be and the state as it is. Corruption and crime invariably co-exist with the state. This messy and unsatisfactory situation can be explained and analysed in terms of the behaviour of the