The Erotics Of Corruption: Law, Scandal, And Political Perversion

The Erotics of Corruption This page intentionally left blank. The Erotics of Corruption Law, Scandal, and Political Perversion Ruth A. Miller State University of New York Press Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 2008 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu Production by Ryan Morris Marketing by Anne M. Valentine Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Miller, Ruth Austin, 1975– The erotics of corruption : law, scandal, and political perversion / Ruth A. Miller p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7914-7453-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Political corruption. 2. Sexual ethics. I. Title. JF1081.M56 2008 364. 1'323—dc22 2007035454 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents vii Introduction Corruption, Democracy, and the Colony ix A Vocabulary of Corruption xii Theoretical Framework xvii An Overview xxii Conclusion xxiv 1. Political Corruption as Sexual Deviance: A Literature Review 1 The Body Politic 6 The Developing State and Its Infantile Transgression 9 Striptease: Political Transparency and Self-Regarding Behavior 20 Incest, Cannibalism, and Corporate Responsibility 25 Conclusion 35 2. Celebrating the Corrupt Leader 37 Pornography and Testimony 40 Getting to Know Abdul and Saddam 43 Developing State, Developing Star 55 Body Doubles and Doubled Bodies 62 v vi Contents Confession 86 Conclusion 103 3. Condemning the Corrupt System 105 Biopolitical Space and Totalitarian Space 107 Salo: The 120 Days of Sodom 110 Bandits and Bureaucrats 113 The Portable Torture Nation 124 Bribery, Nepotism, and Decay 131 Dehumanizing Bureaucracies 141 Conclusion 152 Conclusion 155 Notes 159 Bibliography 195 Index 209 Introduction This is a book about political corruption. I would like to begin, however, in a different place, with a discussion of late twentieth-century Internet pornography. Websites devoted to pornographic material became increasingly sophisticated throughout the 1990s and into the following decade, producing visual, audio, animated, and “live action” narratives, often “interactive,” of bondage, fetishism, bestiality, schoolgirl intercourse, “virgin rape,” and a variety of other situational sexual fantasies. Entering the words “sex” and “torture” into a search engine produces thousands of pornographic bondage sites. Among them are the following two: in the first, a young, unprotected woman is picked up on an urban street. She is drugged, thrown into the back of a van, and when she wakes up she is in a dark, cement cell. After remaining in isolation, she is taken to a torture chamber where she is threatened with a knife and told she must be obedient.