Historical insights into modern corruption: descriptive moralities and cooperative corruption in an Indian city

ABSTRACT

Much of the debate on the relationship between social norms and corruption has been confined to comparisons across countries. But a gap between what is morally acceptable by a society and what is legally correct can exist within individual countries as well. In such cases, it is possible for individual acts of corruption to be seen to be morally justified. This paper explores the emergence of this gap through the imposition of British law on a very different descriptive morality in nineteenth century Indian city of Bengaluru. Drawing from this experience it seeks to identify the dynamics of the process in a way that would allow for it to be used to understand corruption across different societies, and the lessons it has for an effective strategy against endemic corruption.

KEYWORDS:

• Corruption
• India
• Bengaluru
• morality
• Cubbon
• governance

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, for the very generous intellectual and material support during the writing of this paper. Discussions with Ashutosh Varshney, Patrick Heller and Anthony Levitas helped develop several concepts in the paper. The author also acknowledges with gratitude the support of James Manor and University of London in gaining access to the papers of Mark Cubbon in the India Office Records in London. Needless to add, none of them are responsible for the errors that remain. The paper has also benefitted significantly from the comments of the anonymous referees.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

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²²Buchanan (1870), p 166.

²³Wilks (1805), p 25.

²⁴Wilks (1805), p 25.

²⁵Cubbon (1838), para 6.

²⁶Aristotle (date unknown), p 6.

²⁷Aristotle (date unknown), p 6.

²⁸Aristotle (date unknown), p 6.

²⁹Aristotle (date unknown), p 8.

³⁰Wilks (1805), p 26.

³¹Wilks (1805), p 26–27.

³²The Dewan was the prime minister of the kingdom and later princely state of Mysore.

³³Wilks (1805), p 26.

³⁴Cubbon (1838), para 59.

³⁵Cubbon (1838), para 57.

³⁶Sastri (1932), p 307.

³⁷Sastri (1932), p 308.

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⁴⁰Cohn (1961), p 614.

⁴¹Cubbon (1838), para 94.

⁴²Cubbon (1838), para 94.

⁴³Sastri (1932), p 255.

⁴⁴Cubbon (1838), para 143.

⁴⁵Cubbon (1838), p 211.

⁴⁶Wilks (1805), p 26.

⁴⁷Cubbon (1838), para 93.

⁴⁸Rice (1897), pp 667–668.

⁴⁹Sastri (1932), p 307.