The Italian trusteeship normalized corruption in the South

Evidence

From Hussen’s point of view, the Italian administration was singularly responsible for normalizing corruption in the South. Keen to win Somali clients to its side, the Italian trusteeship was a time of heightened political favoritism and venality. This was the culture faced by many honest Southern public administrators. This led in the immediate postindependence period to some state elite ignoring their oath of office and exploiting their public authority for quick private gain. With exploitation becoming widespread, rank-and-file public servants were bound to join in. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 726

Categorization

• XREF: Core causal thread for the reader’s research on how pre-1960 institutions shaped the independent state; connects to the corruption narrative running through the book. — connects to: Political corruption routinely afflicts poor, disenfranchised cities — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up: Environmental…, 972; Southern megadams masked dependence and corruption beneath independence glamour — Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism…, 466