James Heimann

The Corruption Bazaar; A Conceptual Discussion

Corruption is a salient feature of human condition in any organised society. Where risks are low and the returns are high, corruption is almost inevitable. Nevertheless, defining corruption is difficult, especially as there are forms of behaviour that break with the rules and mores of the organisation that may or may not be termed corruption. Many approaches implicitly assume corruption to be anomalous. This paper argues that corruption should not be seen from a moralistic position as deviation behaviour from Eurocentric, Weberian standards. Rather, it should be analysed through what we term the bazaar model of interpersonal behaviour, emphasising primarily economic motives, coupled with an inductive, inside-outside approach.

The return of the "black books" : A unique, new source-material for reinterpretation of South Indian history

It would appear that all possible types of source material concerning pre-colonial and colonial Indian history had been found and analyzed only to be reanalyzed repeatedly, resulting in a number of macro-level studies. However, micro-level studies have been very rare. This may be so because many a historian of India believed that sources necessary for such studies did not exist as there was no tradition in India for keeping detailed economic accounts or even for that matter permanent local records of various legal and economic transactions. For scholars concerned with the early history of South India, the imposing inscriptions in stone have always been the primary source for studies on political, economic and social history.