draining development.pdf - Khazar University

Illicit Capital Flows and Money Laundering in Colombia 153based on homogeneous values, beliefs, and attitudes (Yunis 2003). Thisexplains why, in Colombia, there is a wide gap and strong contrast betweenformal institutions (constitution, laws, decrees, and so on) and the informalunwritten norms recognized and followed by many social groups.Scholars have identified this gap as a main problem in establishing therule of law in Colombia (Thoumi 1987; Herrán 1987; Kalmanovitz 1989;Mockus 1994; Yunis 2003; Puyana-García 2005). 8 One of the principalproblems law enforcement efforts face in Colombia is the fact that mostdecent Colombians break economic laws in some form or another. Somedo it without violence. For example, they buy contraband or evade taxes.Others go further and may use social and political influence to get governmentjobs or contracts; still others may use fraud, violence, or the threat ofviolence to achieve their goals.The persistence and diversity of the contrast and conflict in norms,coupled with large internal migrations partially in response to forceddisplacement, have resulted in a significant number of Colombiansdeveloping a deep amoral individualism; they have become anomic: theeffects of their actions on others are simply irrelevant. 9 Many Colombianstend to be selective regarding the laws that they comply with andthose that they break. Most Colombians simply accept that they shouldobey “good” laws, but that they may disobey “unjust” laws. 10The problem of Colombia is not only the weak state, which could bestrengthened, but, rather, that this state is embedded within a lax societyin which social controls on behavior have been enfeebled to the point thatthey are irrelevant for many Colombians. In the Colombian institutionalenvironment, the line dividing legal and illegal economic activities isfuzzy. Indeed, the division of activities between legal and illegal providesonly a partial picture of reality. It is more relevant to divide the economyin terms of the law into four sectors: legal and socially legitimate, that is,activities that comply with the law and are accepted and reinforced byunwritten social norms; illegal and legitimate, that is, activities thatinvolve lawbreaking, but that are accepted socially (purchasing contraband,for example); legal and illegitimate, that is, activities that complywith the law, but contradict social norms (abortion, for example, accordingto the views of conservative religious groups); and illegal and illegitimate,that is, activities that involve breaking the law and contravening thenorms of society. Of course, the classification of activities into each of