Corruption, Legitimacy and Human Rights: The Dialectic of the Relationship

Rajagopal, Balakrishnan

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Corruption, Legitimacy and Human Rights: The Dialectic of the Relationship

Balakrishnan Rajagopal

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Urban Studies & Planning

Connecticut Journal of International Law, Vol. 14, No. 2, 1999

Abstract:
In this essay, I investigate the relationship between corruption and human rights discourses as well as the idea of legitimacy, and argue that the corruption discourse undermines a particular kind of legitimacy by discrediting a particular kind of State. The essay offers a critique of the corruption discourse, and its putative linkages with a rights-based conception of legitimacy. I argue that the corruption discourse re-legitimizes particular conceptions of development, democracy, rule of law and human rights, that are elitist, eurocentric and statist.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 11

Keywords: Corruption, human rights, legitimacy, international law, development

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Date posted: October 25, 2006 ; Last revised: July 14, 2008

Suggested Citation

Rajagopal, Balakrishnan , Corruption, Legitimacy and Human Rights: The Dialectic of the Relationship. Connecticut Journal of International Law, Vol. 14, No. 2, 1999. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=940042

Contact Information

Balakrishnan Rajagopal (Contact Author)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Urban Studies & Planning ( email )

Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
United States