"Kitu Kidogo": Give me something small : A qualitative case study on the causes of private sector corruption in East Africa

Abstract: There is a large amount of literature about corruption and its impacts on conflict and democratization. In the latest decades, scholars have also tried to explain why political corruption trickles down to the public sector. However, less is known about under what circumstances that political corruption trickles down to the private sector. This is the puzzle for this thesis. A second contribution is to look at ethnically heterogenous countries in particular, as possible links between ethnicity and corruption have rarely been covered by previous research. The research question that guides this thesis is: Why do some politically corrupt, ethnically heterogenous, countries experience higher levels of private sector corruption than others? The possible relationship between ethic politization and private sector corruption will be investigated. Based on theories of norms and group behaviour, the paper formulates the hypothesis: higher levels of ethnic politization increases the risk for/level of private sector corruption. Through a Sructured Focused Comparison, the paper will compare two cases: Kenya and Tanzania. The study finds support for a relationship between ethnic politization and higher levels of private sector corruption. However. parts of the suggested causal mechanism will need further revising by future research.