This new file of The Life of Ideas presents an overview of practices of influence, intermediation and corruption between the public and private spheres of democracies across the world.
While it was long thought that the private and public domains were spheres that should remain separate, the last few decades have been, to borrow the expression of Pierre France and Antoine Vauchez, the scene of a “great blurring”. This blurring occurs through practices as varied as influence, intermediation and even corruption. While the practices that accompany crony capitalism are generally considered illegal and undesirable, the same is not always true of intermediation and “lobbying” practices that are at the heart of the perfectly legal activities of consulting firms or law firms specializing in so-called business law. The mandates of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan in the early 1980s inaugurated a neo-liberal shift that profoundly revolutionized the conception of the boundaries between public and private. It is now increasingly considered obvious that market and competition logics are the best and most efficient way to manage public affairs. This new conception of the ordinary way of functioning of the State has quite naturally contributed to breaking down the idea that defending the public interest implies keeping private interests at a distance. It is in this context that the most important firms in the world have equipped themselves with an extremely varied arsenal to convince public actors to serve their interests.
At a time when France has just adopted a law on the “moralization of public life”, this file The Life of Ideas intends to explore the global diversity of forms that this “great confusion” takes, in countries as varied as the United States, India, Russia and China.
In an interview, Antoine Vauchez discusses the difficulty of distinguishing between influence, intermediation and corruption. He discusses the dangers for French democracy of this blurring of private and public interests and the rise of the most legal facades in the chain of intermediation between the State and corporate interests.
Christophe Jaffrelot returns to the way in which the liberalization of the Indian economy from 1991 went hand in hand with the rise of crony capitalism. Faced with a situation of endemic and systematic corruption of the political class, he discusses different solutions so that the largest democracy in the world can return to healthier practices.
From (a reflection on the work) Too Big to JailPierre Lascoumes questions the ability of the US justice system to sanction the illegal practices of the largest companies. The “guilty plea” procedure very rarely reveals the seriousness of the sanctions committed.
Gilles Favarel-Garrigues explores, in an essay, the place of accusations of corruption in the Russian political game under the presidency of Vladimir Putin. In a context of monopolization of political power, he shows that they constitute the means of guaranteeing the loyalty of the elites towards the power in place.
Reading a book by Minxin Pei leads Émilie Frenkiel to discuss the systematization of crony capitalism in China, which profoundly affects the power dynamics within the Communist Party and the State. (forthcoming)
The work of Pierre France and Antoine Vauchez finally offers Sara Dezalay the opportunity to return to the new policy of separation between the public sphere and private interests. If there has never been a clear line of demarcation between State and market, the last decades have indeed been the occasion for a profound reconfiguration of this cross-border space. At a time when the regulation of the private sphere by the State is increasingly strong (marketing authorizations, sanctions for abuses of dominant positions, regulation of competition or financial markets, etc.), the field of intermediation and influence is experiencing an unprecedented boom. (forthcoming)
Already published on our site:
– Jean Bérard, White collars, dirty hands and clean records”, January 23, 2015.
– David Borstein, “Punishing Corruption: Interview with William Bourdon,” March 30, 2012.
– Jens Ivo Engels, Silvia Marton and Frédéric Monier, “Politicians as White as Snow”, May 9, 2017.
– Camille Herlin-Giret, “Journey to Eurocracy”, May 26, 2016.
– Pierre Lascoumes, “Probity in small steps: Laws “for confidence in political life””, December 12, 2017.