ABSTRACT
Sub-Saharan Africa has the reputation of being the most corrupt area of the world. This part introduction presents some of the key concepts discussed in the next subsequent chapters. It constitutes the first attempt to compare corruption in Africa and East Asia. Such a comparison helps to illustrate the specific nature of corruption in Africa. The part introduces us to the most systematic attempt to fight corruption observed so far in Africa. This case is even more relevant if we keep in mind the fact that pre-Museveni Uganda could be considered as a collapsed state characterized by pervasive corruption, predation and violence. The part suggests that the situation of poverty in Africa and the lack of social protection is specific to Africa in the sense that the logics of social, economic and political survival are at the basis of the rationality of corruption. This behavior is rational in the context of the Hobbesian war of everybody against everybody.
