Brothers in enabling crime

A systems theoretical account of the relationship between corruption and impunity

Abstract

During the past few decades a discourse about “impunity” has been rapidly gaining ground, mainly in the Global South, exhibiting multiple similarities and associations with the discourse about “corruption.” The article sets out to clarify the, often assumed but rarely analyzed, relation between both. To that end, first, four common assumptions about the nature of their connection, and subsequently, four commonalities implicit to the respective assumptions are identified. To offer a sociological explanation for these commonalities, a number of concepts from systems theory are applied, the argument proceeding in three steps: corruption and impunity are made out to be violations of two different forms of decision programs; these two types of programs are associated with the functional systems of politics and the law; and finally, the distinction between the two phenomena is interpreted as a semantic differentiation mirroring the said systems’ structural separation on the level of world society.