Corruption as Power

When Peruvians elected Alberto Kenji Fujimori to become the president he was the first leader not to derive from that country's traditional elite. Lacking a support base the new president forged a pact with the security forces setting up a so-called directed democracy. The abuses of the Fujimori era (1990-2000) have been well-documented. This investigation of a crooked regime is a work of political criminology, the study of criminal governance, and of criminals in government.

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This book deals with the political corruption which infested Peru during the Fujimori years (1990-2000). The work is not about petty corruption, the small bribe paid to the underpaid police officer to avoid being booked for a minor traffic violation, but addresses the corruption of the powerful. Elites rely on corruption, and particularly in repressive regimes the practice is the most important tool of 'criminal governance'. The author utilizes the concept of the protection racket developed by Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno from the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory to explain the links between political, economic, and societal elites in Fujimori's Peru such as the military, political parties, multinational corporations, or conservative groups within the Catholic Church.