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The Entrenchment of Corruption in a Colonial Context: The Case of the Philippines, c. 1900

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Corruption, Empire and Colonialism in the Modern Era

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Comparative Global History ((PASTCGH))

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Abstract

The argument presented in this chapter is that the corruption prevalent in the post-colonial Philippines is deeply rooted in the long colonial history of the archipelago. It is less a matter of showing that public corruption is, unfortunately, a very ancient phenomenon than of trying to understand the reasons why corrupt practices passed from one political system to the other. During the Spanish period, embezzlement and abuse of power became unremarkable behaviours for Spanish civil servants, their Philippine subordinates and the colonised masses. Beginning in 1898, the United States gradually endowed the colony with modern democratic institutions. Yet, the US imperial contradictions and the skill of the Philippine political elites allowed the corruption to remain, and to pervert the new institutions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université Côte d’Azur, Nice, France

    Xavier Huetz de Lemps

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  1. Xavier Huetz de Lemps
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Correspondence to Xavier Huetz de Lemps .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Ronald Kroeze

  2. Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain

    Pol Dalmau

  3. University of Avignon, Avignon, France

    Frédéric Monier

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Huetz de Lemps, X. (2021). The Entrenchment of Corruption in a Colonial Context: The Case of the Philippines, c. 1900. In: Kroeze, R., Dalmau, P., Monier, F. (eds) Corruption, Empire and Colonialism in the Modern Era. Palgrave Studies in Comparative Global History. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0255-9_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0255-9_12

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-16-0254-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-16-0255-9

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