Description du projet
Une vue historique de la corruption en Europe centrale et du Sud-Est
Pendant des siècles, l’Europe du Sud-Est et l’Europe centrale ont été confrontées au fléau de la corruption. Entre 1750 et 1850, les hommes politiques, les universitaires et les écrivains ont brossé un tableau sombre de la corruption, du népotisme et des pots-de-vin, qui étaient des problèmes endémiques. Ces allégations ont façonné l’identité de la région, liant la corruption au retard culturel et au sous-développement économique. Cette perception s’est maintenue au fil des ans. Dans cette optique, le projet TransCorr, financé par le CER, étudiera la manière dont les dirigeants régionaux ont réorienté les pratiques traditionnelles, les qualifiant de corrompues lorsqu’elles sont juxtaposées aux idéaux de modernité de l’Europe occidentale. Les résultats promettent de modifier la façon dont nous percevons le favoritisme, la corruption et la dynamique centre-périphérie.
Objectif
Politicians, scholars, and popular writers between 1750 and 1850 routinely characterized South-East-Central Europe as a corrupt political space. A wide range of foreign observers portrayed graft, nepotism, and bribery as endemic. Indigenous critics echoed many of these assessments. Regional insiders and outsiders alike mobilized commentaries on “corruption” for their own political, professional, and personal ends, claiming they could run more honest and efficient administrations, military regimes, and commercial operations than those in power. These notables linked “corruption” to the region's supposed cultural backwardness and economic under-development. In doing so, public figures naturalized notions of “corruption,” making it appear both widespread and organic in the region—popularizing tropes that have endured right down to the present. Yet, “corruption” is a historically specific concept. TransCorr seeks to construct a history of the idea of “corruption” in Central-South-East Europe in conjunction with the rise of modernity. It demonstrates how in the context of new ideas about modernity emanating from West Europe, regional leaders reframed a host of traditional customs and practices as corrupt. It examines how Great Power attempts to transform these borderlands into formal and informal imperial provinces further entrenched novel understandings of “corruption”, often pejoratively associating them with the Ottoman legacy. By tracing out this history, TransCorr reveals a genealogy of ideas, discourses, and attitudes that continue to inform analyses of and discussions within the region today. The project brings the study of this geographic area into greater dialogue with a global story of modernization and aligns the region’s historiography with new innovations in the scientific literature. It also reframes contemporary debates on patronage and graft, and reconfigures broader understandings of center-periphery relations within the region and across the continent.
Champ scientifique
Mots‑clés
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Thème(s)
Régime de financement
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsInstitution d’accueil
023971 Bucuresti
Roumanie