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Corrupt Circles: A History of Unbound Graft in Peru. By Alfonso W. Quiroz. Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center, 2008. xxn + 514 pp. Illustrations, bibliography, notes, index. Cloth, $65.00; paper, $30.00. ISBN: cloth, 978-0-801-89076-5; paper, 978-0-801-89218-1.
Reviewed by Catherine Conaghan
In this sweeping book, Alfonso Quiroz takes up a challenge that few Latin American historians would have dared to attempt, which is to chronicle a complete national history of corruption from the colonial period to the present. Quiroz completes the task admirably, treating readers to a thoroughgoing analysis of the phenomenon in his native country, Peru.
Contemporary analysts of Latin America share the view that corruption continues to be one of the most profound problems in the region, one that affects the quality of democracy and the prospects for economic development. Quiroz certainly agrees. He begins with the proposition that "corruption matters" (p. 1) and lays out his argument about its relation to economic and political development. Drawing heavily on the insights of institutionalists like Douglass North, Quiroz argues that corruption "results in increased transaction costs, hindered growth and faltering rule of law" (p. 8). Corruption- which Quiroz defines as the "abuse of public resources for the benefit of a few individuals or groups" (p. 2) - is considered as both an independent and a dependent variable. Corruption undermines institutional and economic...