Snow in the Tropics

Snow in the Tropics offers the first comprehensive history of the independent reefer operators, companies that are dedicated to transport refrigerated products by ship, from the early 20th century to the present. Readership: All interested in maritime history, particularly those with an interest in the modern history of the shipping industry

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Corruption

Corruption has become one of the most popular topics in the social scientific disciplines. However, there is a lack of interdisciplinary communication about corruption. Models developed by different academic disciplines are often isolated from each other. The purpose of this paper is to review several major approaches to corruption and draw them closer to each other. Most studies of corruption fall into three major categories: (i) rational-actor models where corruption is viewed as resulting from cost/benefit analysis of individual actors; (ii) structural models that focus on external forces that determine corruption; and (iii) relational models that emphasize social interactions and networks among corrupt actors. Focusing on actors’ behavior and the social context, this article explains corruption concepts taken from sociology, economics, organization studies, political science, social anthropology, and social psychology

The Transformation of Transparency – On the Act on Public Procurement and the Right to Appeal in the Context of the War on Corruption

This article discusses the alleged anti-corruption effects of procurement reforms by presenting the European Act on Public Procurement and the increasing number of appeals filed by suppliers due to perceived misevaluations of tenders and perceived impairments of transparency. The delays and costs that arise from this right to appeal are studied in the Swedish context with the aim of contributing to the debate on corruption in two ways. First, instead of using the modern definition of corruption, the ancient definition is introduced to explain anti-corruption efforts, focusing on corruption as deviations from a pristine standard as opposed to corruption as the abuse of public power for private gain. Second, it will be argued that the fight against corruption in the practical implementation of the European Act on Public Procurement jeopardizes efficiency and might devaluate competence. However, striving for the total elimination of corruption–an evil that has to be fought disregarding the consequences–is integral in the war against it. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2007corruption, efficiency, transparency, The European Act on Public Procurement, appeals,

What is this case also a case of? : What are your underlying assumptions in having students go through your cases?

Our own research on cases in management education shows that cases provide heroic, individualistic and uncritical perspectives on leadership and organization, that they have a narrow scope and focus exclusively on the company and its shareholders, and that they are biased towards masculinity, managerialism and American capitalism. I argue here that engineering ethics should carefully scrutinize the underlying ideas that a teaching case is representing. What are your cases also a case of? What are your underlying assumptions in having students go through your cases?Blog post at European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI)</p

Corruption and Hosophobia

This paper discusses the relationship between corruption and purity. It draws on resesarch on corruption in political science and research on hosophobia (fear of the impure) in organization studies. The paper presents a theory of corruption based on failure of separation between the public and the private, and discusses rules of separation, which are crucial for upholding the illusion of public purity. However, this theory of corruption is complemented by the concept of hosophobia to show how organizations have dual relationship to corruption. Drawing on two Swedish cases, the paper intends to show hosophobia in the everyday functioning of and organization, and how occasional cleansing procedures might take place.peerReviewe

The Vicissitudes of Corruption : Degeneration - transgression - jouissance

In a time when corruption is receiving increasing media coverage and when many claim to wage a war on corruption, this book brings up the need for a problematisation and an increased understanding of the different manifestations – the vicissitudes – of corruption and also what measures are taken against it. The book advances the claim that corruption is tightly related to modernity and particularly to a transgression of the public / private dichotomy. It furthermore explores ancient, postmodern and psychoanalytic critiques of the modern understanding of corruption. The ancient perspective stems from theorists arguing that there is an ancient core meaning of corruption, i.e. degeneration. This perspective is also informed by a discussion about virtues based on Alasdair MacIntyre. The postmodern perspective is based on Zygmunt Bauman. It is held that corruption is the remnant of the classification of the world into the public and the private, caused by the inherent ambiguity of reality. The psychoanalytic perspective, based on Jacques Lacan and Slavoj Žižek, deepens the analysis and relates corruption to stolen enjoyment – jouissance. These different understandings of corruption are used to analyse primarily bribery in Swedish public sector procurement. In interviews, project managers responsible for public procurement give their account not only of bribes and gifts, but also about partiality and objectivity in supplier evaluations. Using these interviews and theoretical perspectives, the book problematises corruption and investigates how it is addressed and externalised with clear rules, virtues and rituals separating the public role from the private .QC 2010051