Middlemen in the Corruption Bazar:India and Indonesia

During the past few decades systemic corruption has come to be seen as a significant factor which hinders socio-economic development, posing a serious threat to the political, economic and social well-being of many developing and transition countries. Under conditions of systemic corruption, many institutions, rules and norms of behaviour have become adapted to a corrupt modus operandi. Public officials and other agents not only follow the predatory examples of the elite classes, but even take instructions from them. In this context, the role of middle men in corruption is analysed here through the lens of a market or bazar model of interpersonal behaviour. It is the market of the corruption bazar rather than the traditional bazar which reigns supreme. The former is characterized by, among others, market distortions in the form of limitations on competitiveness and the free reign given to entrepreneurial intermediaries whose field of operations is seemingly unaffected by political outcry or even 'good laws', all reinforced by traditional values based on 'affection corruption'.