Mordida (Mexico) - Revision history

Editor2018 at 15:16, 17 May 2019

2019-05-17T15:16:58Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:16, 17 May 2019
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	{{infobox		{{infobox
	\| nameofpractice = Mordida		\| nameofpractice =Mordida
	\| location = Mexico		\| flagemoji =🇲🇽
	\| imagemap = Mexico map.png		\| definition =Lit. ‘to bite’, euphemism for a bribe or backhander
	\| ~~imageflag~~ = Mexico ~~flag.png~~		\| location =Mexico
	\| authorofpiece = Claudia Baez Camargo		\| imagemap =Mexico map.png
	\| authorinstitution = Basel Institute on Governance		\| clusters =
	}}		[[:Category:Redistribution\|Redistribution]] – [[:Category: Substantive ambivalence\| Substantive ambivalence]] – [[:Category: Sociability of instrumentality\| Sociability of instrumentality]] – [[:Category: Economies of favours\| Economies of favours]]
			\| categories =
	'''~~''Original Text:~~ Claudia Baez Camargo, Basel Institute on Governance'''''		[[:Category:Mexico\|Mexico]] – [[:Category: North America\| North America]] – [[:Category: Latin America\| Latin America]] – [[:Category: Euphemism\| Euphemism]] – [[:Category: Food\| Food]] – [[:Category: Bribe\| Bribe]] – [[:Category: Payment\| Payment]] – [[:Category: Favour\| Favour]]
			\| authorofpiece =Claudia Baez-Camargo
	~~<div~~ class="~~toccolours mw~~-~~collapsible mw~~-~~collapsed~~">		\| authorinstitution =Basel Institute on Governance, Switzerland
	In Mexico, ''mordida'' is a term widely used to refer to a bribe<ref>Morris, S. D. 2003. ‘Corruption and Mexican Political Culture’, Journal of the Southwest, 45(4): 671–708.</ref>. The word literally translates as ‘bite’ from Spanish. While the origins of this secondary use of the word are contested, probably the most recurrent explanation given by Mexicans is that it alludes to police officers and other public officials being seen as dogs, on the lookout for an innocent citizen to take a bite out of. It is significant that several studies<ref>Del Castillo, A., and Guerrero, M. A. 2003. ‘Percepciones de La Corrupción En La Cuidad de México¿ Predisposición Al Acto Corrupto?.’ Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, http://presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/transparencia/DT_134.pdf</ref><ref>Bailey, J. and P. Paras. 2006. ‘Perceptions and Attitudes about Corruption and Democracy in Mexico’. Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, 22 (1): 57–82, doi:10.1525/msem.2006.22.issue-1.</ref> have found that ''mordida'' is the one practice consistently identified by Mexicans as an unambiguous expression of corruption, whereas, in spite of an increasing awareness of the impact of corruption, average citizens appear to struggle to come up with a more abstract definition of the concept<ref>Del Castillo, A., and Guerrero, M. A. 2003. ‘Percepciones de La Corrupción En La Cuidad de México¿ Predisposición Al Acto Corrupto?.’ Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, http://presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/transparencia/DT_134.pdf</ref>.		\| authorwebsite =[https://www.baselgovernance.org/about-us/people/claudia-baez-camargo Profile page at BG]}}
			<big>'''By Claudia Baez-Camargo, Basel Institute on Governance, Switzerland'''</big>
	~~<div class="mw-collapsible-content">~~		[[Category:Redistribution]]
			[[Category: Substantive ambivalence]]
			[[Category: Sociability of instrumentality]]
			[[Category: Economies of favours]]
			[[Category:Mexico]]
			[[Category: North America]]
			[[Category: Latin America]]
			[[Category: Euphemism]]
			[[Category: Food]]
			[[Category: Bribe]]
			[[Category: Payment]]
			[[Category: Favour]]
			[[Category:Entry]]
			[[Category: Volume 1]]
			{\| class="wikitable"
			\|-
			\|style="font-size:1.1em;"\|In Mexico, ''mordida'' is a term widely used to refer to a bribe<ref>Morris, S. D. 2003. ‘Corruption and Mexican Political Culture’, Journal of the Southwest, 45(4): 671–708.</ref>. The word literally translates as ‘bite’ from Spanish. While the origins of this secondary use of the word are contested, probably the most recurrent explanation given by Mexicans is that it alludes to police officers and other public officials being seen as dogs, on the lookout for an innocent citizen to take a bite out of. It is significant that several studies<ref>Del Castillo, A., and Guerrero, M. A. 2003. ‘Percepciones de La Corrupción En La Cuidad de México¿ Predisposición Al Acto Corrupto?.’ Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, http://presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/transparencia/DT_134.pdf</ref><ref>Bailey, J. and P. Paras. 2006. ‘Perceptions and Attitudes about Corruption and Democracy in Mexico’. Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, 22 (1): 57–82, doi:10.1525/msem.2006.22.issue-1.</ref> have found that ''mordida'' is the one practice consistently identified by Mexicans as an unambiguous expression of corruption, whereas, in spite of an increasing awareness of the impact of corruption, average citizens appear to struggle to come up with a more abstract definition of the concept<ref>Del Castillo, A., and Guerrero, M. A. 2003. ‘Percepciones de La Corrupción En La Cuidad de México¿ Predisposición Al Acto Corrupto?.’ Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, http://presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/transparencia/DT_134.pdf</ref>.
			\|}
	[[File:mordida.jpg\|400px\|thumb\|left\|Police officers have a literal bite in Mexico City]]		[[File:mordida.jpg\|400px\|thumb\|left\|Police officers have a literal bite in Mexico City]]

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	At the national level, there are several instruments that quantify the prevalence of the ''mordida'' in Mexico. One example is the Índice de Corrupción y Buen Gobierno published by Transparencia Mexicana, which ranks 35 public services according to the frequency of households reporting to have used a ''mordida'' to obtain a service (Transparencia Mexicana 2011). Another available data source is the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP): it conducts surveys every other year, including questions on the prevalence of ''mordidas'' given to police officers and other public officers. The results are published the results in a searchable database.		At the national level, there are several instruments that quantify the prevalence of the ''mordida'' in Mexico. One example is the Índice de Corrupción y Buen Gobierno published by Transparencia Mexicana, which ranks 35 public services according to the frequency of households reporting to have used a ''mordida'' to obtain a service (Transparencia Mexicana 2011). Another available data source is the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP): it conducts surveys every other year, including questions on the prevalence of ''mordidas'' given to police officers and other public officers. The results are published the results in a searchable database.
	~~</div>~~
	~~</div>~~

	~~==Notes==~~
	~~<references />~~

	~~[[Category:Informal Practices]]~~		==References==
	~~[[Category:Mexico]]~~
	~~[[Category:Central America]]~~
	~~[[Category:Substantive]]~~
	~~[[Category:Language of informality]]~~
	~~[[Category:Substantive]]~~
	~~[[Category:Gift]]~~
	~~[[Category:Payment]]~~
	~~[[Category:Bribery]]~~
	~~[[Category:Entry]]~~

Admin at 13:13, 23 August 2018

2018-08-23T13:13:00Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:13, 23 August 2018
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	[[File:mordida.jpg\|400px\|thumb\|left\|Police officers have a literal bite in Mexico City]]		[[File:mordida.jpg\|400px\|thumb\|left\|Police officers have a literal bite in Mexico City]]

	As well as ''mordida'', the term ''soborno'' also translates as ‘bribe’ in English. However, some authors (for example Coronado 2008<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref>) have suggested a subtle difference in meaning between the two terms. Thus, while ''soborno'' is presumed to be a serious crime (involving large amounts of money), ''mordida'' refers to commonly occurring petty corruption transactions, and is associated with what Covarrubias González <ref>Covarrubias González, I. 2003. ‘El Impacto de La Corrupción En El Proceso de Democratización de México’, Revista Probidad, 24 (9): 1–14.</ref> refers to as the ‘folklore of corruption’ pervading Mexican popular culture. In this latter connotation, ''mordida'' may be understood as one of many practices from the toolkit of informal strategies that Mexicans often employ in order to deal with a state that is perceived as undemocratic and abusive. Other examples of such informal strategies used in Mexico include the use of [[''palancas'']] (levers, which refer to the use of personal connections to insiders or influential actors in order to obtain preferential treatment), ''coyotes'' (persons who are paid to do others’ administrative transactions, frequently through use of personal contacts inside the organization), and giving ''regalos'' (gifts)<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref>.		As well as ''mordida'', the term ''soborno'' also translates as ‘bribe’ in English. However, some authors (for example Coronado 2008<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref>) have suggested a subtle difference in meaning between the two terms. Thus, while ''soborno'' is presumed to be a serious crime (involving large amounts of money), ''mordida'' refers to commonly occurring petty corruption transactions, and is associated with what Covarrubias González <ref>Covarrubias González, I. 2003. ‘El Impacto de La Corrupción En El Proceso de Democratización de México’, Revista Probidad, 24 (9): 1–14.</ref> refers to as the ‘folklore of corruption’ pervading Mexican popular culture. In this latter connotation, ''mordida'' may be understood as one of many practices from the toolkit of informal strategies that Mexicans often employ in order to deal with a state that is perceived as undemocratic and abusive. Other examples of such informal strategies used in Mexico include the use of [[palanca\|''palancas'']] (levers, which refer to the use of personal connections to insiders or influential actors in order to obtain preferential treatment), ''coyotes'' (persons who are paid to do others’ administrative transactions, frequently through use of personal contacts inside the organization), and giving ''regalos'' (gifts)<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref>.

	There are several reasons why the ''mordida'' is a pervasive practice in Mexico. Firstly, the ''mordida'' is widely viewed as necessary because of the perception that Mexican laws and regulations are so difficult to comply with that people feel they are left with no choice but to find an arrangement through extra-legal means<ref>Morris, S. D. 2003. ‘Corruption and Mexican Political Culture’, Journal of the Southwest, 45(4): 671–708.</ref>. Furthermore, excessive red tape is often exploited by unscrupulous bureaucrats, who arbitrarily come up with endless requirements to complete an administrative process. For instance, it is not uncommon for people seeking everyday public services (renewing a driving licence, obtaining a birth certificate, regularising a land title, applying for construction permits etc.) to be asked to present documents never mentioned before or listed anywhere, or to be sent through an endless succession of queues. Alternatively, as Coronado<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref> narrates, the public official can also play upon the possibility that the applicant’s documents may ‘get lost’ or the procedure could be ‘delayed’; it is not uncommon to ask for a ‘tip’ after the paperwork has been submitted, ‘ahí lo que quiera dar para la cooperación del juez’ (‘whatever you would like to give for the judge’s cooperation’). The overall effect of these patterns is to create a sense of unpredictability when citizens engage with state officials. Not surprisingly, in some cases, citizens resort to a ''mordida'' as a preemptive action just to avoid time-consuming procedures.		There are several reasons why the ''mordida'' is a pervasive practice in Mexico. Firstly, the ''mordida'' is widely viewed as necessary because of the perception that Mexican laws and regulations are so difficult to comply with that people feel they are left with no choice but to find an arrangement through extra-legal means<ref>Morris, S. D. 2003. ‘Corruption and Mexican Political Culture’, Journal of the Southwest, 45(4): 671–708.</ref>. Furthermore, excessive red tape is often exploited by unscrupulous bureaucrats, who arbitrarily come up with endless requirements to complete an administrative process. For instance, it is not uncommon for people seeking everyday public services (renewing a driving licence, obtaining a birth certificate, regularising a land title, applying for construction permits etc.) to be asked to present documents never mentioned before or listed anywhere, or to be sent through an endless succession of queues. Alternatively, as Coronado<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref> narrates, the public official can also play upon the possibility that the applicant’s documents may ‘get lost’ or the procedure could be ‘delayed’; it is not uncommon to ask for a ‘tip’ after the paperwork has been submitted, ‘ahí lo que quiera dar para la cooperación del juez’ (‘whatever you would like to give for the judge’s cooperation’). The overall effect of these patterns is to create a sense of unpredictability when citizens engage with state officials. Not surprisingly, in some cases, citizens resort to a ''mordida'' as a preemptive action just to avoid time-consuming procedures.

Admin at 13:12, 23 August 2018

2018-08-23T13:12:25Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:12, 23 August 2018
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	[[File:mordida.jpg\|400px\|thumb\|left\|Police officers have a literal bite in Mexico City]]		[[File:mordida.jpg\|400px\|thumb\|left\|Police officers have a literal bite in Mexico City]]

	As well as ''mordida'', the term ''soborno'' also translates as ‘bribe’ in English. However, some authors (for example Coronado 2008<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref>) have suggested a subtle difference in meaning between the two terms. Thus, while ''soborno'' is presumed to be a serious crime (involving large amounts of money), ''mordida'' refers to commonly occurring petty corruption transactions, and is associated with what Covarrubias González <ref>Covarrubias González, I. 2003. ‘El Impacto de La Corrupción En El Proceso de Democratización de México’, Revista Probidad, 24 (9): 1–14.</ref> refers to as the ‘folklore of corruption’ pervading Mexican popular culture. In this latter connotation, ''mordida'' may be understood as one of many practices from the toolkit of informal strategies that Mexicans often employ in order to deal with a state that is perceived as undemocratic and abusive. Other examples of such informal strategies used in Mexico include the use of ''palancas'' (levers, which refer to the use of personal connections to insiders or influential actors in order to obtain preferential treatment), ''coyotes'' (persons who are paid to do others’ administrative transactions, frequently through use of personal contacts inside the organization), and giving ''regalos'' (gifts)<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref>.		As well as ''mordida'', the term ''soborno'' also translates as ‘bribe’ in English. However, some authors (for example Coronado 2008<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref>) have suggested a subtle difference in meaning between the two terms. Thus, while ''soborno'' is presumed to be a serious crime (involving large amounts of money), ''mordida'' refers to commonly occurring petty corruption transactions, and is associated with what Covarrubias González <ref>Covarrubias González, I. 2003. ‘El Impacto de La Corrupción En El Proceso de Democratización de México’, Revista Probidad, 24 (9): 1–14.</ref> refers to as the ‘folklore of corruption’ pervading Mexican popular culture. In this latter connotation, ''mordida'' may be understood as one of many practices from the toolkit of informal strategies that Mexicans often employ in order to deal with a state that is perceived as undemocratic and abusive. Other examples of such informal strategies used in Mexico include the use of [[''palancas'']] (levers, which refer to the use of personal connections to insiders or influential actors in order to obtain preferential treatment), ''coyotes'' (persons who are paid to do others’ administrative transactions, frequently through use of personal contacts inside the organization), and giving ''regalos'' (gifts)<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref>.

	There are several reasons why the ''mordida'' is a pervasive practice in Mexico. Firstly, the ''mordida'' is widely viewed as necessary because of the perception that Mexican laws and regulations are so difficult to comply with that people feel they are left with no choice but to find an arrangement through extra-legal means<ref>Morris, S. D. 2003. ‘Corruption and Mexican Political Culture’, Journal of the Southwest, 45(4): 671–708.</ref>. Furthermore, excessive red tape is often exploited by unscrupulous bureaucrats, who arbitrarily come up with endless requirements to complete an administrative process. For instance, it is not uncommon for people seeking everyday public services (renewing a driving licence, obtaining a birth certificate, regularising a land title, applying for construction permits etc.) to be asked to present documents never mentioned before or listed anywhere, or to be sent through an endless succession of queues. Alternatively, as Coronado<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref> narrates, the public official can also play upon the possibility that the applicant’s documents may ‘get lost’ or the procedure could be ‘delayed’; it is not uncommon to ask for a ‘tip’ after the paperwork has been submitted, ‘ahí lo que quiera dar para la cooperación del juez’ (‘whatever you would like to give for the judge’s cooperation’). The overall effect of these patterns is to create a sense of unpredictability when citizens engage with state officials. Not surprisingly, in some cases, citizens resort to a ''mordida'' as a preemptive action just to avoid time-consuming procedures.		There are several reasons why the ''mordida'' is a pervasive practice in Mexico. Firstly, the ''mordida'' is widely viewed as necessary because of the perception that Mexican laws and regulations are so difficult to comply with that people feel they are left with no choice but to find an arrangement through extra-legal means<ref>Morris, S. D. 2003. ‘Corruption and Mexican Political Culture’, Journal of the Southwest, 45(4): 671–708.</ref>. Furthermore, excessive red tape is often exploited by unscrupulous bureaucrats, who arbitrarily come up with endless requirements to complete an administrative process. For instance, it is not uncommon for people seeking everyday public services (renewing a driving licence, obtaining a birth certificate, regularising a land title, applying for construction permits etc.) to be asked to present documents never mentioned before or listed anywhere, or to be sent through an endless succession of queues. Alternatively, as Coronado<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref> narrates, the public official can also play upon the possibility that the applicant’s documents may ‘get lost’ or the procedure could be ‘delayed’; it is not uncommon to ask for a ‘tip’ after the paperwork has been submitted, ‘ahí lo que quiera dar para la cooperación del juez’ (‘whatever you would like to give for the judge’s cooperation’). The overall effect of these patterns is to create a sense of unpredictability when citizens engage with state officials. Not surprisingly, in some cases, citizens resort to a ''mordida'' as a preemptive action just to avoid time-consuming procedures.

Admin at 12:53, 3 July 2018

2018-07-03T12:53:11Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:53, 3 July 2018
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	[[Category:Payment]]		[[Category:Payment]]
	[[Category:Bribery]]		[[Category:Bribery]]
			[[Category:Entry]]

Admin: Admin moved page Mordida to Mordida (Mexico) without leaving a redirect

2018-06-01T11:15:43Z

Admin moved page Mordida to Mordida (Mexico) without leaving a redirect

← Older revision	Revision as of 11:15, 1 June 2018
(No difference)

Admin at 18:29, 13 August 2016

2016-08-13T18:29:15Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:29, 13 August 2016
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	\| nameofpractice = Mordida		\| nameofpractice = Mordida
	\| location = Mexico		\| location = Mexico
	\| imagemap =		\| imagemap = Mexico map.png
	\| imageflag =		\| imageflag = Mexico flag.png
	\| authorofpiece = Claudia Baez Camargo		\| authorofpiece = Claudia Baez Camargo
	\| authorinstitution = Basel Institute on Governance		\| authorinstitution = Basel Institute on Governance

Admin at 18:26, 13 August 2016

2016-08-13T18:26:41Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:26, 13 August 2016
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	~~[[File:mordida.jpg~~\|~~400px~~\|~~thumb~~\|~~right~~\|~~Police officers have a literal bite in Mexico City]] <div class~~=~~'item'>~~'''''Original Text: Claudia Baez Camargo, Basel Institute on Governance'''''<br>~~<br>‎In~~ Mexico, ''mordida'' is a term widely used to refer to a bribe<ref>Morris, S. D. 2003. ‘Corruption and Mexican Political Culture’, Journal of the Southwest, 45(4): 671–708.</ref>. The word literally translates as ‘bite’ from Spanish. While the origins of this secondary use of the word are contested, probably the most recurrent explanation given by Mexicans is that it alludes to police officers and other public officials being seen as dogs, on the lookout for an innocent citizen to take a bite out of. It is significant that several studies<ref>Del Castillo, A., and Guerrero, M. A. 2003. ‘Percepciones de La Corrupción En La Cuidad de México¿ Predisposición Al Acto Corrupto?.’ Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, http://presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/transparencia/DT_134.pdf</ref><ref>Bailey, J. and P. Paras. 2006. ‘Perceptions and Attitudes about Corruption and Democracy in Mexico’. Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, 22 (1): 57–82, doi:10.1525/msem.2006.22.issue-1.</ref> have found that ''mordida'' is the one practice consistently identified by Mexicans as an unambiguous expression of corruption, whereas, in spite of an increasing awareness of the impact of corruption, average citizens appear to struggle to come up with a more abstract definition of the concept<ref>Del Castillo, A., and Guerrero, M. A. 2003. ‘Percepciones de La Corrupción En La Cuidad de México¿ Predisposición Al Acto Corrupto?.’ Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, http://presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/transparencia/DT_134.pdf</ref>.<br>~~As well as '~~'mordida'', the term ''soborno'' also translates as ‘bribe’ in English. However, some authors (for example Coronado 2008<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref>) have suggested a subtle difference in meaning between the two terms. Thus, while ''soborno'' is presumed to be a serious crime (involving large amounts of money), ''mordida'' refers to commonly occurring petty corruption transactions, and is associated with what Covarrubias González <ref>Covarrubias González, I. 2003. ‘El Impacto de La Corrupción En El Proceso de Democratización de México’, Revista Probidad, 24 (9): 1–14.</ref> refers to as the ‘folklore of corruption’ pervading Mexican popular culture. In this latter connotation, ''mordida'' may be understood as one of many practices from the toolkit of informal strategies that Mexicans often employ in order to deal with a state that is perceived as undemocratic and abusive. Other examples of such informal strategies used in Mexico include the use of ''palancas'' (levers, which refer to the use of personal connections to insiders or influential actors in order to obtain preferential treatment), ''coyotes'' (persons who are paid to do others’ administrative transactions, frequently through use of personal contacts inside the organization), and giving ''regalos'' (gifts)<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref>.~~<br>~~There are several reasons why the ''mordida'' is a pervasive practice in Mexico. Firstly, the ''mordida'' is widely viewed as necessary because of the perception that Mexican laws and regulations are so difficult to comply with that people feel they are left with no choice but to find an arrangement through extra-legal means<ref>Morris, S. D. 2003. ‘Corruption and Mexican Political Culture’, Journal of the Southwest, 45(4): 671–708.</ref>. Furthermore, excessive red tape is often exploited by unscrupulous bureaucrats, who arbitrarily come up with endless requirements to complete an administrative process. For instance, it is not uncommon for people seeking everyday public services (renewing a driving licence, obtaining a birth certificate, regularising a land title, applying for construction permits etc.) to be asked to present documents never mentioned before or listed anywhere, or to be sent through an endless succession of queues. Alternatively, as Coronado<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref> narrates, the public official can also play upon the possibility that the applicant’s documents may ‘get lost’ or the procedure could be ‘delayed’; it is not uncommon to ask for a ‘tip’ after the paperwork has been submitted, ‘ahí lo que quiera dar para la cooperación del juez’ (‘whatever you would like to give for the judge’s cooperation’). The overall effect of these patterns is to create a sense of unpredictability when citizens engage with state officials. Not surprisingly, in some cases, citizens resort to a ''mordida'' as a preemptive action just to avoid time-consuming procedures.~~<br>‎~~[[File:mordida 2.jpg\|400px\|thumb\|~~left~~\|A possible traffic incident involving a mordida]] Besides being linked to excessive and costly bureaucratic procedures, the ''mordida'' can also take the form of an outright coercive act. Perhaps the most common example of this involves law enforcement officers threatening severe consequences from (sometimes even minor) traffic violations or other misdemeanors. The ''mordida'' is, then, often offered out of fear of the consequences that would befall the individual should he or she fail to ‘appease’ the officer. In such cases, the act of bribing arises from the perception that law enforcement officers can and do commit abuses of power with impunity. As LaRose and Maddan<ref>LaRose, A. P., and S. Maddan. 2009. ‘Reforming La Policía: Looking to the Future of Policing in Mexico’, Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, 10 (4): 333–48.</ref> recount, in the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 the victors pursued strategies to centralise power, which led to the development of a police force with great autonomy and little oversight. Thus, the commonly held view that the police are a tool of political oppression rather than law enforcement professionals<ref>LaRose, A. P., and S. Maddan. 2009. ‘Reforming La Policía: Looking to the Future of Policing in Mexico’, Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, 10 (4): 333–48.</ref><ref>Alvarado Mendoza, A. and C. S. Forné. 2011. ‘Relaciones de Autoridad Y Abuso Policial En La Ciudad de México’, Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 73 (3): 445–73.</ref> is a factor contributing to the willingness of citizens to settle legal issues informally through a ''mordida'' rather than having to face the criminal justice process. Therefore, as Del Castillo and Guerrero suggest, the bribe is often rationalised by citizens as a means to buy security<ref>Del Castillo, A., and Guerrero, M. A. 2003. ‘Percepciones de La Corrupción En La Cuidad de México¿ Predisposición Al Acto Corrupto?.’ Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, http://presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/transparencia/DT_134.pdf</ref>.~~<br> There~~ are specific rituals associated with giving a ''mordida'', which most Mexicans are familiar with, and which determine how the process of bribing is negotiated. For instance, the preamble to negotiating the ''mordida'' comes at the point where the public officer has made it clear that the citizen’s ‘situation is serious and it often involves phrases such as ''‘¿no habrá otra manera?''’ (‘Is there no other way?’) or ‘¿cómo nos podemos arreglar?’ (‘How can we reach an arrangement?’). At which point usually an amount is mentioned.~~<br>~~Not infrequently, some negotiation is involved before agreeing on the price of the bribe. This is an interesting moment because it often opens up an informal space between the citizen and the public officer. Thus, the process of negotiating the amount of the bribe can involve both parties appealing to each other on the basis of the hardships each must face in their personal lives. For example, criminologist and blogger Christina Johns has written about a strategy she and her husband devised to lower the amount of the ''mordida'' while travelling around Mexico: she would pretend not to speak Spanish and when her husband “translated for her” what the police officer wanted she would hysterically start screaming ‘No, no, no, no!!’ In her analysis, this strategy consistently worked because police officers would empathise with the husband, who apparently had to contend with a difficult ''gringa'' (foreign woman)<ref>Johns, C. 2014. ‘The Mordida: Mexico and Corruption’. Law, Power and Justice, http://www.cjjohns.com/lawpowerandjustice/commentaries/mordida.html.</ref>.~~<br>~~In spite of the fact that bribing is known to be widespread, the language used during the actual transaction is often careful and respectful, and one does not make any direct reference to the act of bribing or call it by its name. There is a common understanding that the transaction needs to be discreet. For example, when bribing a traffic officer, the money is often hidden inside the traffic rulebook before it is handed over.~~<br>~~The amounts paid for mordidas seem to be related to either the value of the prospective fine, in the case of traffic violations and other misdemeanors, or to whether the service can be obtained elsewhere, in the case of bureaucratic processes. Further, mordidas to evade sanctions typically involve higher amounts than those meant to simply speed up a process. According to data reported by Transparencia Mexicana the average cost of a ''mordida'' in 2010 was 165MXN (about 12 USD). Bailey and Paras (2006) estimated an annual aggregated cost to the economy from mordidas of over 1 billion dollars in 2001.~~<br>~~At the national level, there are several instruments that quantify the prevalence of the ''mordida'' in Mexico. One example is the Índice de Corrupción y Buen Gobierno published by Transparencia Mexicana, which ranks 35 public services according to the frequency of households reporting to have used a ''mordida'' to obtain a service (Transparencia Mexicana 2011). Another available data source is the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP): it conducts surveys every other year, including questions on the prevalence of ''mordidas'' given to police officers and other public officers. The results are published the results in a searchable database.<br><br>==Notes==<br><references /><br>[[Category:Mexico]]<br>[[Category:Central America]]<br>[[Category:Substantive]]<br>[[Category:Language of informality]]<br>[[Category:Substantive]]<br>[[Category:Gift]]<br>[[Category:Payment]]<br>[[Category:Bribery]]		{{infobox
			\| nameofpractice = Mordida
			\| location = Mexico
			\| imagemap =
			\| imageflag =
			\| authorofpiece = Claudia Baez Camargo
			\| authorinstitution = Basel Institute on Governance
			}}

			'''''Original Text: Claudia Baez Camargo, Basel Institute on Governance'''''

			<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
			In Mexico, ''mordida'' is a term widely used to refer to a bribe<ref>Morris, S. D. 2003. ‘Corruption and Mexican Political Culture’, Journal of the Southwest, 45(4): 671–708.</ref>. The word literally translates as ‘bite’ from Spanish. While the origins of this secondary use of the word are contested, probably the most recurrent explanation given by Mexicans is that it alludes to police officers and other public officials being seen as dogs, on the lookout for an innocent citizen to take a bite out of. It is significant that several studies<ref>Del Castillo, A., and Guerrero, M. A. 2003. ‘Percepciones de La Corrupción En La Cuidad de México¿ Predisposición Al Acto Corrupto?.’ Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, http://presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/transparencia/DT_134.pdf</ref><ref>Bailey, J. and P. Paras. 2006. ‘Perceptions and Attitudes about Corruption and Democracy in Mexico’. Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, 22 (1): 57–82, doi:10.1525/msem.2006.22.issue-1.</ref> have found that ''mordida'' is the one practice consistently identified by Mexicans as an unambiguous expression of corruption, whereas, in spite of an increasing awareness of the impact of corruption, average citizens appear to struggle to come up with a more abstract definition of the concept<ref>Del Castillo, A., and Guerrero, M. A. 2003. ‘Percepciones de La Corrupción En La Cuidad de México¿ Predisposición Al Acto Corrupto?.’ Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, http://presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/transparencia/DT_134.pdf</ref>.

			<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
			[[File:mordida.jpg\|400px\|thumb\|left\|Police officers have a literal bite in Mexico City]]

			As well as ''mordida'', the term ''soborno'' also translates as ‘bribe’ in English. However, some authors (for example Coronado 2008<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref>) have suggested a subtle difference in meaning between the two terms. Thus, while ''soborno'' is presumed to be a serious crime (involving large amounts of money), ''mordida'' refers to commonly occurring petty corruption transactions, and is associated with what Covarrubias González <ref>Covarrubias González, I. 2003. ‘El Impacto de La Corrupción En El Proceso de Democratización de México’, Revista Probidad, 24 (9): 1–14.</ref> refers to as the ‘folklore of corruption’ pervading Mexican popular culture. In this latter connotation, ''mordida'' may be understood as one of many practices from the toolkit of informal strategies that Mexicans often employ in order to deal with a state that is perceived as undemocratic and abusive. Other examples of such informal strategies used in Mexico include the use of ''palancas'' (levers, which refer to the use of personal connections to insiders or influential actors in order to obtain preferential treatment), ''coyotes'' (persons who are paid to do others’ administrative transactions, frequently through use of personal contacts inside the organization), and giving ''regalos'' (gifts)<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref>.

			There are several reasons why the ''mordida'' is a pervasive practice in Mexico. Firstly, the ''mordida'' is widely viewed as necessary because of the perception that Mexican laws and regulations are so difficult to comply with that people feel they are left with no choice but to find an arrangement through extra-legal means<ref>Morris, S. D. 2003. ‘Corruption and Mexican Political Culture’, Journal of the Southwest, 45(4): 671–708.</ref>. Furthermore, excessive red tape is often exploited by unscrupulous bureaucrats, who arbitrarily come up with endless requirements to complete an administrative process. For instance, it is not uncommon for people seeking everyday public services (renewing a driving licence, obtaining a birth certificate, regularising a land title, applying for construction permits etc.) to be asked to present documents never mentioned before or listed anywhere, or to be sent through an endless succession of queues. Alternatively, as Coronado<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref> narrates, the public official can also play upon the possibility that the applicant’s documents may ‘get lost’ or the procedure could be ‘delayed’; it is not uncommon to ask for a ‘tip’ after the paperwork has been submitted, ‘ahí lo que quiera dar para la cooperación del juez’ (‘whatever you would like to give for the judge’s cooperation’). The overall effect of these patterns is to create a sense of unpredictability when citizens engage with state officials. Not surprisingly, in some cases, citizens resort to a ''mordida'' as a preemptive action just to avoid time-consuming procedures.

			[[File:mordida 2.jpg\|400px\|thumb\|right\|A possible traffic incident involving a mordida]]

			Besides being linked to excessive and costly bureaucratic procedures, the ''mordida'' can also take the form of an outright coercive act. Perhaps the most common example of this involves law enforcement officers threatening severe consequences from (sometimes even minor) traffic violations or other misdemeanors. The ''mordida'' is, then, often offered out of fear of the consequences that would befall the individual should he or she fail to ‘appease’ the officer. In such cases, the act of bribing arises from the perception that law enforcement officers can and do commit abuses of power with impunity. As LaRose and Maddan<ref>LaRose, A. P., and S. Maddan. 2009. ‘Reforming La Policía: Looking to the Future of Policing in Mexico’, Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, 10 (4): 333–48.</ref> recount, in the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 the victors pursued strategies to centralise power, which led to the development of a police force with great autonomy and little oversight. Thus, the commonly held view that the police are a tool of political oppression rather than law enforcement professionals<ref>LaRose, A. P., and S. Maddan. 2009. ‘Reforming La Policía: Looking to the Future of Policing in Mexico’, Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, 10 (4): 333–48.</ref><ref>Alvarado Mendoza, A. and C. S. Forné. 2011. ‘Relaciones de Autoridad Y Abuso Policial En La Ciudad de México’, Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 73 (3): 445–73.</ref> is a factor contributing to the willingness of citizens to settle legal issues informally through a ''mordida'' rather than having to face the criminal justice process. Therefore, as Del Castillo and Guerrero suggest, the bribe is often rationalised by citizens as a means to buy security<ref>Del Castillo, A., and Guerrero, M. A. 2003. ‘Percepciones de La Corrupción En La Cuidad de México¿ Predisposición Al Acto Corrupto?.’ Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, http://presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/transparencia/DT_134.pdf</ref>.

			There are specific rituals associated with giving a ''mordida'', which most Mexicans are familiar with, and which determine how the process of bribing is negotiated. For instance, the preamble to negotiating the ''mordida'' comes at the point where the public officer has made it clear that the citizen’s ‘situation is serious and it often involves phrases such as ''‘¿no habrá otra manera?''’ (‘Is there no other way?’) or ‘¿cómo nos podemos arreglar?’ (‘How can we reach an arrangement?’). At which point usually an amount is mentioned.

			Not infrequently, some negotiation is involved before agreeing on the price of the bribe. This is an interesting moment because it often opens up an informal space between the citizen and the public officer. Thus, the process of negotiating the amount of the bribe can involve both parties appealing to each other on the basis of the hardships each must face in their personal lives. For example, criminologist and blogger Christina Johns has written about a strategy she and her husband devised to lower the amount of the ''mordida'' while travelling around Mexico: she would pretend not to speak Spanish and when her husband “translated for her” what the police officer wanted she would hysterically start screaming ‘No, no, no, no!!’ In her analysis, this strategy consistently worked because police officers would empathise with the husband, who apparently had to contend with a difficult ''gringa'' (foreign woman)<ref>Johns, C. 2014. ‘The Mordida: Mexico and Corruption’. Law, Power and Justice, http://www.cjjohns.com/lawpowerandjustice/commentaries/mordida.html.</ref>.

			In spite of the fact that bribing is known to be widespread, the language used during the actual transaction is often careful and respectful, and one does not make any direct reference to the act of bribing or call it by its name. There is a common understanding that the transaction needs to be discreet. For example, when bribing a traffic officer, the money is often hidden inside the traffic rulebook before it is handed over.

			The amounts paid for mordidas seem to be related to either the value of the prospective fine, in the case of traffic violations and other misdemeanors, or to whether the service can be obtained elsewhere, in the case of bureaucratic processes. Further, mordidas to evade sanctions typically involve higher amounts than those meant to simply speed up a process. According to data reported by Transparencia Mexicana the average cost of a ''mordida'' in 2010 was 165MXN (about 12 USD). Bailey and Paras (2006) estimated an annual aggregated cost to the economy from mordidas of over 1 billion dollars in 2001.

			At the national level, there are several instruments that quantify the prevalence of the ''mordida'' in Mexico. One example is the Índice de Corrupción y Buen Gobierno published by Transparencia Mexicana, which ranks 35 public services according to the frequency of households reporting to have used a ''mordida'' to obtain a service (Transparencia Mexicana 2011). Another available data source is the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP): it conducts surveys every other year, including questions on the prevalence of ''mordidas'' given to police officers and other public officers. The results are published the results in a searchable database.
	</div>		</div>
			</div>

			==Notes==
			<references />

			[[Category:Informal Practices]]
			[[Category:Mexico]]
			[[Category:Central America]]
			[[Category:Substantive]]
			[[Category:Language of informality]]
			[[Category:Substantive]]
			[[Category:Gift]]
			[[Category:Payment]]
			[[Category:Bribery]]

Admin at 12:54, 19 July 2016

2016-07-19T12:54:07Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:54, 19 July 2016
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	<div class='item'>'''''Original Text: Claudia Baez Camargo, Basel Institute on Governance'''''<br><br>~~‎[[File:mordida.jpg\|400px\|thumb\|right\|Police officers have a literal bite in Mexico City]] In~~ Mexico, ''mordida'' is a term widely used to refer to a bribe<ref>Morris, S. D. 2003. ‘Corruption and Mexican Political Culture’, Journal of the Southwest, 45(4): 671–708.</ref>. The word literally translates as ‘bite’ from Spanish. While the origins of this secondary use of the word are contested, probably the most recurrent explanation given by Mexicans is that it alludes to police officers and other public officials being seen as dogs, on the lookout for an innocent citizen to take a bite out of. It is significant that several studies<ref>Del Castillo, A., and Guerrero, M. A. 2003. ‘Percepciones de La Corrupción En La Cuidad de México¿ Predisposición Al Acto Corrupto?.’ Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, http://presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/transparencia/DT_134.pdf</ref><ref>Bailey, J. and P. Paras. 2006. ‘Perceptions and Attitudes about Corruption and Democracy in Mexico’. Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, 22 (1): 57–82, doi:10.1525/msem.2006.22.issue-1.</ref> have found that ''mordida'' is the one practice consistently identified by Mexicans as an unambiguous expression of corruption, whereas, in spite of an increasing awareness of the impact of corruption, average citizens appear to struggle to come up with a more abstract definition of the concept<ref>Del Castillo, A., and Guerrero, M. A. 2003. ‘Percepciones de La Corrupción En La Cuidad de México¿ Predisposición Al Acto Corrupto?.’ Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, http://presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/transparencia/DT_134.pdf</ref>.<br>As well as ''mordida'', the term ''soborno'' also translates as ‘bribe’ in English. However, some authors (for example Coronado 2008<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref>) have suggested a subtle difference in meaning between the two terms. Thus, while ''soborno'' is presumed to be a serious crime (involving large amounts of money), ''mordida'' refers to commonly occurring petty corruption transactions, and is associated with what Covarrubias González <ref>Covarrubias González, I. 2003. ‘El Impacto de La Corrupción En El Proceso de Democratización de México’, Revista Probidad, 24 (9): 1–14.</ref> refers to as the ‘folklore of corruption’ pervading Mexican popular culture. In this latter connotation, ''mordida'' may be understood as one of many practices from the toolkit of informal strategies that Mexicans often employ in order to deal with a state that is perceived as undemocratic and abusive. Other examples of such informal strategies used in Mexico include the use of ''palancas'' (levers, which refer to the use of personal connections to insiders or influential actors in order to obtain preferential treatment), ''coyotes'' (persons who are paid to do others’ administrative transactions, frequently through use of personal contacts inside the organization), and giving ''regalos'' (gifts)<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref>.<br>There are several reasons why the ''mordida'' is a pervasive practice in Mexico. Firstly, the ''mordida'' is widely viewed as necessary because of the perception that Mexican laws and regulations are so difficult to comply with that people feel they are left with no choice but to find an arrangement through extra-legal means<ref>Morris, S. D. 2003. ‘Corruption and Mexican Political Culture’, Journal of the Southwest, 45(4): 671–708.</ref>. Furthermore, excessive red tape is often exploited by unscrupulous bureaucrats, who arbitrarily come up with endless requirements to complete an administrative process. For instance, it is not uncommon for people seeking everyday public services (renewing a driving licence, obtaining a birth certificate, regularising a land title, applying for construction permits etc.) to be asked to present documents never mentioned before or listed anywhere, or to be sent through an endless succession of queues. Alternatively, as Coronado<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref> narrates, the public official can also play upon the possibility that the applicant’s documents may ‘get lost’ or the procedure could be ‘delayed’; it is not uncommon to ask for a ‘tip’ after the paperwork has been submitted, ‘ahí lo que quiera dar para la cooperación del juez’ (‘whatever you would like to give for the judge’s cooperation’). The overall effect of these patterns is to create a sense of unpredictability when citizens engage with state officials. Not surprisingly, in some cases, citizens resort to a ''mordida'' as a preemptive action just to avoid time-consuming procedures.<br>‎[[File:mordida 2.jpg\|400px\|thumb\|left\|A possible traffic incident involving a mordida]] Besides being linked to excessive and costly bureaucratic procedures, the ''mordida'' can also take the form of an outright coercive act. Perhaps the most common example of this involves law enforcement officers threatening severe consequences from (sometimes even minor) traffic violations or other misdemeanors. The ''mordida'' is, then, often offered out of fear of the consequences that would befall the individual should he or she fail to ‘appease’ the officer. In such cases, the act of bribing arises from the perception that law enforcement officers can and do commit abuses of power with impunity. As LaRose and Maddan<ref>LaRose, A. P., and S. Maddan. 2009. ‘Reforming La Policía: Looking to the Future of Policing in Mexico’, Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, 10 (4): 333–48.</ref> recount, in the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 the victors pursued strategies to centralise power, which led to the development of a police force with great autonomy and little oversight. Thus, the commonly held view that the police are a tool of political oppression rather than law enforcement professionals<ref>LaRose, A. P., and S. Maddan. 2009. ‘Reforming La Policía: Looking to the Future of Policing in Mexico’, Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, 10 (4): 333–48.</ref><ref>Alvarado Mendoza, A. and C. S. Forné. 2011. ‘Relaciones de Autoridad Y Abuso Policial En La Ciudad de México’, Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 73 (3): 445–73.</ref> is a factor contributing to the willingness of citizens to settle legal issues informally through a ''mordida'' rather than having to face the criminal justice process. Therefore, as Del Castillo and Guerrero suggest, the bribe is often rationalised by citizens as a means to buy security<ref>Del Castillo, A., and Guerrero, M. A. 2003. ‘Percepciones de La Corrupción En La Cuidad de México¿ Predisposición Al Acto Corrupto?.’ Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, http://presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/transparencia/DT_134.pdf</ref>.<br> There are specific rituals associated with giving a ''mordida'', which most Mexicans are familiar with, and which determine how the process of bribing is negotiated. For instance, the preamble to negotiating the ''mordida'' comes at the point where the public officer has made it clear that the citizen’s ‘situation is serious and it often involves phrases such as ''‘¿no habrá otra manera?''’ (‘Is there no other way?’) or ‘¿cómo nos podemos arreglar?’ (‘How can we reach an arrangement?’). At which point usually an amount is mentioned.<br>Not infrequently, some negotiation is involved before agreeing on the price of the bribe. This is an interesting moment because it often opens up an informal space between the citizen and the public officer. Thus, the process of negotiating the amount of the bribe can involve both parties appealing to each other on the basis of the hardships each must face in their personal lives. For example, criminologist and blogger Christina Johns has written about a strategy she and her husband devised to lower the amount of the ''mordida'' while travelling around Mexico: she would pretend not to speak Spanish and when her husband “translated for her” what the police officer wanted she would hysterically start screaming ‘No, no, no, no!!’ In her analysis, this strategy consistently worked because police officers would empathise with the husband, who apparently had to contend with a difficult ''gringa'' (foreign woman)<ref>Johns, C. 2014. ‘The Mordida: Mexico and Corruption’. Law, Power and Justice, http://www.cjjohns.com/lawpowerandjustice/commentaries/mordida.html.</ref>.<br>In spite of the fact that bribing is known to be widespread, the language used during the actual transaction is often careful and respectful, and one does not make any direct reference to the act of bribing or call it by its name. There is a common understanding that the transaction needs to be discreet. For example, when bribing a traffic officer, the money is often hidden inside the traffic rulebook before it is handed over.<br>The amounts paid for mordidas seem to be related to either the value of the prospective fine, in the case of traffic violations and other misdemeanors, or to whether the service can be obtained elsewhere, in the case of bureaucratic processes. Further, mordidas to evade sanctions typically involve higher amounts than those meant to simply speed up a process. According to data reported by Transparencia Mexicana the average cost of a ''mordida'' in 2010 was 165MXN (about 12 USD). Bailey and Paras (2006) estimated an annual aggregated cost to the economy from mordidas of over 1 billion dollars in 2001.<br>At the national level, there are several instruments that quantify the prevalence of the ''mordida'' in Mexico. One example is the Índice de Corrupción y Buen Gobierno published by Transparencia Mexicana, which ranks 35 public services according to the frequency of households reporting to have used a ''mordida'' to obtain a service (Transparencia Mexicana 2011). Another available data source is the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP): it conducts surveys every other year, including questions on the prevalence of ''mordidas'' given to police officers and other public officers. The results are published the results in a searchable database.<br><br>==Notes==<br><references /><br>[[Category:Mexico]]<br>[[Category:Central America]]<br>[[Category:Substantive]]<br>[[Category:Language of informality]]<br>[[Category:Substantive]]<br>[[Category:Gift]]<br>[[Category:Payment]]<br>[[Category:Bribery]]		[[File:mordida.jpg\|400px\|thumb\|right\|Police officers have a literal bite in Mexico City]] <div class='item'>'''''Original Text: Claudia Baez Camargo, Basel Institute on Governance'''''<br><br>‎In Mexico, ''mordida'' is a term widely used to refer to a bribe<ref>Morris, S. D. 2003. ‘Corruption and Mexican Political Culture’, Journal of the Southwest, 45(4): 671–708.</ref>. The word literally translates as ‘bite’ from Spanish. While the origins of this secondary use of the word are contested, probably the most recurrent explanation given by Mexicans is that it alludes to police officers and other public officials being seen as dogs, on the lookout for an innocent citizen to take a bite out of. It is significant that several studies<ref>Del Castillo, A., and Guerrero, M. A. 2003. ‘Percepciones de La Corrupción En La Cuidad de México¿ Predisposición Al Acto Corrupto?.’ Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, http://presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/transparencia/DT_134.pdf</ref><ref>Bailey, J. and P. Paras. 2006. ‘Perceptions and Attitudes about Corruption and Democracy in Mexico’. Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, 22 (1): 57–82, doi:10.1525/msem.2006.22.issue-1.</ref> have found that ''mordida'' is the one practice consistently identified by Mexicans as an unambiguous expression of corruption, whereas, in spite of an increasing awareness of the impact of corruption, average citizens appear to struggle to come up with a more abstract definition of the concept<ref>Del Castillo, A., and Guerrero, M. A. 2003. ‘Percepciones de La Corrupción En La Cuidad de México¿ Predisposición Al Acto Corrupto?.’ Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, http://presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/transparencia/DT_134.pdf</ref>.<br>As well as ''mordida'', the term ''soborno'' also translates as ‘bribe’ in English. However, some authors (for example Coronado 2008<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref>) have suggested a subtle difference in meaning between the two terms. Thus, while ''soborno'' is presumed to be a serious crime (involving large amounts of money), ''mordida'' refers to commonly occurring petty corruption transactions, and is associated with what Covarrubias González <ref>Covarrubias González, I. 2003. ‘El Impacto de La Corrupción En El Proceso de Democratización de México’, Revista Probidad, 24 (9): 1–14.</ref> refers to as the ‘folklore of corruption’ pervading Mexican popular culture. In this latter connotation, ''mordida'' may be understood as one of many practices from the toolkit of informal strategies that Mexicans often employ in order to deal with a state that is perceived as undemocratic and abusive. Other examples of such informal strategies used in Mexico include the use of ''palancas'' (levers, which refer to the use of personal connections to insiders or influential actors in order to obtain preferential treatment), ''coyotes'' (persons who are paid to do others’ administrative transactions, frequently through use of personal contacts inside the organization), and giving ''regalos'' (gifts)<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref>.<br>There are several reasons why the ''mordida'' is a pervasive practice in Mexico. Firstly, the ''mordida'' is widely viewed as necessary because of the perception that Mexican laws and regulations are so difficult to comply with that people feel they are left with no choice but to find an arrangement through extra-legal means<ref>Morris, S. D. 2003. ‘Corruption and Mexican Political Culture’, Journal of the Southwest, 45(4): 671–708.</ref>. Furthermore, excessive red tape is often exploited by unscrupulous bureaucrats, who arbitrarily come up with endless requirements to complete an administrative process. For instance, it is not uncommon for people seeking everyday public services (renewing a driving licence, obtaining a birth certificate, regularising a land title, applying for construction permits etc.) to be asked to present documents never mentioned before or listed anywhere, or to be sent through an endless succession of queues. Alternatively, as Coronado<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref> narrates, the public official can also play upon the possibility that the applicant’s documents may ‘get lost’ or the procedure could be ‘delayed’; it is not uncommon to ask for a ‘tip’ after the paperwork has been submitted, ‘ahí lo que quiera dar para la cooperación del juez’ (‘whatever you would like to give for the judge’s cooperation’). The overall effect of these patterns is to create a sense of unpredictability when citizens engage with state officials. Not surprisingly, in some cases, citizens resort to a ''mordida'' as a preemptive action just to avoid time-consuming procedures.<br>‎[[File:mordida 2.jpg\|400px\|thumb\|left\|A possible traffic incident involving a mordida]] Besides being linked to excessive and costly bureaucratic procedures, the ''mordida'' can also take the form of an outright coercive act. Perhaps the most common example of this involves law enforcement officers threatening severe consequences from (sometimes even minor) traffic violations or other misdemeanors. The ''mordida'' is, then, often offered out of fear of the consequences that would befall the individual should he or she fail to ‘appease’ the officer. In such cases, the act of bribing arises from the perception that law enforcement officers can and do commit abuses of power with impunity. As LaRose and Maddan<ref>LaRose, A. P., and S. Maddan. 2009. ‘Reforming La Policía: Looking to the Future of Policing in Mexico’, Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, 10 (4): 333–48.</ref> recount, in the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 the victors pursued strategies to centralise power, which led to the development of a police force with great autonomy and little oversight. Thus, the commonly held view that the police are a tool of political oppression rather than law enforcement professionals<ref>LaRose, A. P., and S. Maddan. 2009. ‘Reforming La Policía: Looking to the Future of Policing in Mexico’, Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, 10 (4): 333–48.</ref><ref>Alvarado Mendoza, A. and C. S. Forné. 2011. ‘Relaciones de Autoridad Y Abuso Policial En La Ciudad de México’, Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 73 (3): 445–73.</ref> is a factor contributing to the willingness of citizens to settle legal issues informally through a ''mordida'' rather than having to face the criminal justice process. Therefore, as Del Castillo and Guerrero suggest, the bribe is often rationalised by citizens as a means to buy security<ref>Del Castillo, A., and Guerrero, M. A. 2003. ‘Percepciones de La Corrupción En La Cuidad de México¿ Predisposición Al Acto Corrupto?.’ Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, http://presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/transparencia/DT_134.pdf</ref>.<br> There are specific rituals associated with giving a ''mordida'', which most Mexicans are familiar with, and which determine how the process of bribing is negotiated. For instance, the preamble to negotiating the ''mordida'' comes at the point where the public officer has made it clear that the citizen’s ‘situation is serious and it often involves phrases such as ''‘¿no habrá otra manera?''’ (‘Is there no other way?’) or ‘¿cómo nos podemos arreglar?’ (‘How can we reach an arrangement?’). At which point usually an amount is mentioned.<br>Not infrequently, some negotiation is involved before agreeing on the price of the bribe. This is an interesting moment because it often opens up an informal space between the citizen and the public officer. Thus, the process of negotiating the amount of the bribe can involve both parties appealing to each other on the basis of the hardships each must face in their personal lives. For example, criminologist and blogger Christina Johns has written about a strategy she and her husband devised to lower the amount of the ''mordida'' while travelling around Mexico: she would pretend not to speak Spanish and when her husband “translated for her” what the police officer wanted she would hysterically start screaming ‘No, no, no, no!!’ In her analysis, this strategy consistently worked because police officers would empathise with the husband, who apparently had to contend with a difficult ''gringa'' (foreign woman)<ref>Johns, C. 2014. ‘The Mordida: Mexico and Corruption’. Law, Power and Justice, http://www.cjjohns.com/lawpowerandjustice/commentaries/mordida.html.</ref>.<br>In spite of the fact that bribing is known to be widespread, the language used during the actual transaction is often careful and respectful, and one does not make any direct reference to the act of bribing or call it by its name. There is a common understanding that the transaction needs to be discreet. For example, when bribing a traffic officer, the money is often hidden inside the traffic rulebook before it is handed over.<br>The amounts paid for mordidas seem to be related to either the value of the prospective fine, in the case of traffic violations and other misdemeanors, or to whether the service can be obtained elsewhere, in the case of bureaucratic processes. Further, mordidas to evade sanctions typically involve higher amounts than those meant to simply speed up a process. According to data reported by Transparencia Mexicana the average cost of a ''mordida'' in 2010 was 165MXN (about 12 USD). Bailey and Paras (2006) estimated an annual aggregated cost to the economy from mordidas of over 1 billion dollars in 2001.<br>At the national level, there are several instruments that quantify the prevalence of the ''mordida'' in Mexico. One example is the Índice de Corrupción y Buen Gobierno published by Transparencia Mexicana, which ranks 35 public services according to the frequency of households reporting to have used a ''mordida'' to obtain a service (Transparencia Mexicana 2011). Another available data source is the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP): it conducts surveys every other year, including questions on the prevalence of ''mordidas'' given to police officers and other public officers. The results are published the results in a searchable database.<br><br>==Notes==<br><references /><br>[[Category:Mexico]]<br>[[Category:Central America]]<br>[[Category:Substantive]]<br>[[Category:Language of informality]]<br>[[Category:Substantive]]<br>[[Category:Gift]]<br>[[Category:Payment]]<br>[[Category:Bribery]]
	</div>		</div>

62.199.26.242 at 10:16, 19 July 2016

2016-07-19T10:16:49Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:16, 19 July 2016
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	'''''Original Text: Claudia Baez Camargo, Basel Institute on Governance'''''		<div class='item'>'''''Original Text: Claudia Baez Camargo, Basel Institute on Governance'''''<br><br>‎[[File:mordida.jpg\|400px\|thumb\|right\|Police officers have a literal bite in Mexico City]] In Mexico, ''mordida'' is a term widely used to refer to a bribe<ref>Morris, S. D. 2003. ‘Corruption and Mexican Political Culture’, Journal of the Southwest, 45(4): 671–708.</ref>. The word literally translates as ‘bite’ from Spanish. While the origins of this secondary use of the word are contested, probably the most recurrent explanation given by Mexicans is that it alludes to police officers and other public officials being seen as dogs, on the lookout for an innocent citizen to take a bite out of. It is significant that several studies<ref>Del Castillo, A., and Guerrero, M. A. 2003. ‘Percepciones de La Corrupción En La Cuidad de México¿ Predisposición Al Acto Corrupto?.’ Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, http://presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/transparencia/DT_134.pdf</ref><ref>Bailey, J. and P. Paras. 2006. ‘Perceptions and Attitudes about Corruption and Democracy in Mexico’. Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, 22 (1): 57–82, doi:10.1525/msem.2006.22.issue-1.</ref> have found that ''mordida'' is the one practice consistently identified by Mexicans as an unambiguous expression of corruption, whereas, in spite of an increasing awareness of the impact of corruption, average citizens appear to struggle to come up with a more abstract definition of the concept<ref>Del Castillo, A., and Guerrero, M. A. 2003. ‘Percepciones de La Corrupción En La Cuidad de México¿ Predisposición Al Acto Corrupto?.’ Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, http://presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/transparencia/DT_134.pdf</ref>.<br>As well as ''mordida'', the term ''soborno'' also translates as ‘bribe’ in English. However, some authors (for example Coronado 2008<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref>) have suggested a subtle difference in meaning between the two terms. Thus, while ''soborno'' is presumed to be a serious crime (involving large amounts of money), ''mordida'' refers to commonly occurring petty corruption transactions, and is associated with what Covarrubias González <ref>Covarrubias González, I. 2003. ‘El Impacto de La Corrupción En El Proceso de Democratización de México’, Revista Probidad, 24 (9): 1–14.</ref> refers to as the ‘folklore of corruption’ pervading Mexican popular culture. In this latter connotation, ''mordida'' may be understood as one of many practices from the toolkit of informal strategies that Mexicans often employ in order to deal with a state that is perceived as undemocratic and abusive. Other examples of such informal strategies used in Mexico include the use of ''palancas'' (levers, which refer to the use of personal connections to insiders or influential actors in order to obtain preferential treatment), ''coyotes'' (persons who are paid to do others’ administrative transactions, frequently through use of personal contacts inside the organization), and giving ''regalos'' (gifts)<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref>.<br>There are several reasons why the ''mordida'' is a pervasive practice in Mexico. Firstly, the ''mordida'' is widely viewed as necessary because of the perception that Mexican laws and regulations are so difficult to comply with that people feel they are left with no choice but to find an arrangement through extra-legal means<ref>Morris, S. D. 2003. ‘Corruption and Mexican Political Culture’, Journal of the Southwest, 45(4): 671–708.</ref>. Furthermore, excessive red tape is often exploited by unscrupulous bureaucrats, who arbitrarily come up with endless requirements to complete an administrative process. For instance, it is not uncommon for people seeking everyday public services (renewing a driving licence, obtaining a birth certificate, regularising a land title, applying for construction permits etc.) to be asked to present documents never mentioned before or listed anywhere, or to be sent through an endless succession of queues. Alternatively, as Coronado<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref> narrates, the public official can also play upon the possibility that the applicant’s documents may ‘get lost’ or the procedure could be ‘delayed’; it is not uncommon to ask for a ‘tip’ after the paperwork has been submitted, ‘ahí lo que quiera dar para la cooperación del juez’ (‘whatever you would like to give for the judge’s cooperation’). The overall effect of these patterns is to create a sense of unpredictability when citizens engage with state officials. Not surprisingly, in some cases, citizens resort to a ''mordida'' as a preemptive action just to avoid time-consuming procedures.<br>‎[[File:mordida 2.jpg\|400px\|thumb\|left\|A possible traffic incident involving a mordida]] Besides being linked to excessive and costly bureaucratic procedures, the ''mordida'' can also take the form of an outright coercive act. Perhaps the most common example of this involves law enforcement officers threatening severe consequences from (sometimes even minor) traffic violations or other misdemeanors. The ''mordida'' is, then, often offered out of fear of the consequences that would befall the individual should he or she fail to ‘appease’ the officer. In such cases, the act of bribing arises from the perception that law enforcement officers can and do commit abuses of power with impunity. As LaRose and Maddan<ref>LaRose, A. P., and S. Maddan. 2009. ‘Reforming La Policía: Looking to the Future of Policing in Mexico’, Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, 10 (4): 333–48.</ref> recount, in the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 the victors pursued strategies to centralise power, which led to the development of a police force with great autonomy and little oversight. Thus, the commonly held view that the police are a tool of political oppression rather than law enforcement professionals<ref>LaRose, A. P., and S. Maddan. 2009. ‘Reforming La Policía: Looking to the Future of Policing in Mexico’, Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, 10 (4): 333–48.</ref><ref>Alvarado Mendoza, A. and C. S. Forné. 2011. ‘Relaciones de Autoridad Y Abuso Policial En La Ciudad de México’, Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 73 (3): 445–73.</ref> is a factor contributing to the willingness of citizens to settle legal issues informally through a ''mordida'' rather than having to face the criminal justice process. Therefore, as Del Castillo and Guerrero suggest, the bribe is often rationalised by citizens as a means to buy security<ref>Del Castillo, A., and Guerrero, M. A. 2003. ‘Percepciones de La Corrupción En La Cuidad de México¿ Predisposición Al Acto Corrupto?.’ Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, http://presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/transparencia/DT_134.pdf</ref>.<br> There are specific rituals associated with giving a ''mordida'', which most Mexicans are familiar with, and which determine how the process of bribing is negotiated. For instance, the preamble to negotiating the ''mordida'' comes at the point where the public officer has made it clear that the citizen’s ‘situation is serious and it often involves phrases such as ''‘¿no habrá otra manera?''’ (‘Is there no other way?’) or ‘¿cómo nos podemos arreglar?’ (‘How can we reach an arrangement?’). At which point usually an amount is mentioned.<br>Not infrequently, some negotiation is involved before agreeing on the price of the bribe. This is an interesting moment because it often opens up an informal space between the citizen and the public officer. Thus, the process of negotiating the amount of the bribe can involve both parties appealing to each other on the basis of the hardships each must face in their personal lives. For example, criminologist and blogger Christina Johns has written about a strategy she and her husband devised to lower the amount of the ''mordida'' while travelling around Mexico: she would pretend not to speak Spanish and when her husband “translated for her” what the police officer wanted she would hysterically start screaming ‘No, no, no, no!!’ In her analysis, this strategy consistently worked because police officers would empathise with the husband, who apparently had to contend with a difficult ''gringa'' (foreign woman)<ref>Johns, C. 2014. ‘The Mordida: Mexico and Corruption’. Law, Power and Justice, http://www.cjjohns.com/lawpowerandjustice/commentaries/mordida.html.</ref>.<br>In spite of the fact that bribing is known to be widespread, the language used during the actual transaction is often careful and respectful, and one does not make any direct reference to the act of bribing or call it by its name. There is a common understanding that the transaction needs to be discreet. For example, when bribing a traffic officer, the money is often hidden inside the traffic rulebook before it is handed over.<br>The amounts paid for mordidas seem to be related to either the value of the prospective fine, in the case of traffic violations and other misdemeanors, or to whether the service can be obtained elsewhere, in the case of bureaucratic processes. Further, mordidas to evade sanctions typically involve higher amounts than those meant to simply speed up a process. According to data reported by Transparencia Mexicana the average cost of a ''mordida'' in 2010 was 165MXN (about 12 USD). Bailey and Paras (2006) estimated an annual aggregated cost to the economy from mordidas of over 1 billion dollars in 2001.<br>At the national level, there are several instruments that quantify the prevalence of the ''mordida'' in Mexico. One example is the Índice de Corrupción y Buen Gobierno published by Transparencia Mexicana, which ranks 35 public services according to the frequency of households reporting to have used a ''mordida'' to obtain a service (Transparencia Mexicana 2011). Another available data source is the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP): it conducts surveys every other year, including questions on the prevalence of ''mordidas'' given to police officers and other public officers. The results are published the results in a searchable database.<br><br>==Notes==<br><references /><br>[[Category:Mexico]]<br>[[Category:Central America]]<br>[[Category:Substantive]]<br>[[Category:Language of informality]]<br>[[Category:Substantive]]<br>[[Category:Gift]]<br>[[Category:Payment]]<br>[[Category:Bribery]]
			</div>
	‎[[File:mordida.jpg\|400px\|thumb\|right\|Police officers have a literal bite in Mexico City]] In Mexico, ''mordida'' is a term widely used to refer to a bribe<ref>Morris, S. D. 2003. ‘Corruption and Mexican Political Culture’, Journal of the Southwest, 45(4): 671–708.</ref>. The word literally translates as ‘bite’ from Spanish. While the origins of this secondary use of the word are contested, probably the most recurrent explanation given by Mexicans is that it alludes to police officers and other public officials being seen as dogs, on the lookout for an innocent citizen to take a bite out of. It is significant that several studies<ref>Del Castillo, A., and Guerrero, M. A. 2003. ‘Percepciones de La Corrupción En La Cuidad de México¿ Predisposición Al Acto Corrupto?.’ Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, http://presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/transparencia/DT_134.pdf</ref><ref>Bailey, J. and P. Paras. 2006. ‘Perceptions and Attitudes about Corruption and Democracy in Mexico’. Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, 22 (1): 57–82, doi:10.1525/msem.2006.22.issue-1.</ref> have found that ''mordida'' is the one practice consistently identified by Mexicans as an unambiguous expression of corruption, whereas, in spite of an increasing awareness of the impact of corruption, average citizens appear to struggle to come up with a more abstract definition of the concept<ref>Del Castillo, A., and Guerrero, M. A. 2003. ‘Percepciones de La Corrupción En La Cuidad de México¿ Predisposición Al Acto Corrupto?.’ Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, http://presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/transparencia/DT_134.pdf</ref>.

	As well as ''mordida'', the term ''soborno'' also translates as ‘bribe’ in English. However, some authors (for example Coronado 2008<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref>) have suggested a subtle difference in meaning between the two terms. Thus, while ''soborno'' is presumed to be a serious crime (involving large amounts of money), ''mordida'' refers to commonly occurring petty corruption transactions, and is associated with what Covarrubias González <ref>Covarrubias González, I. 2003. ‘El Impacto de La Corrupción En El Proceso de Democratización de México’, Revista Probidad, 24 (9): 1–14.</ref> refers to as the ‘folklore of corruption’ pervading Mexican popular culture. In this latter connotation, ''mordida'' may be understood as one of many practices from the toolkit of informal strategies that Mexicans often employ in order to deal with a state that is perceived as undemocratic and abusive. Other examples of such informal strategies used in Mexico include the use of ''palancas'' (levers, which refer to the use of personal connections to insiders or influential actors in order to obtain preferential treatment), ''coyotes'' (persons who are paid to do others’ administrative transactions, frequently through use of personal contacts inside the organization), and giving ''regalos'' (gifts)<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref>.

	There are several reasons why the ''mordida'' is a pervasive practice in Mexico. Firstly, the ''mordida'' is widely viewed as necessary because of the perception that Mexican laws and regulations are so difficult to comply with that people feel they are left with no choice but to find an arrangement through extra-legal means<ref>Morris, S. D. 2003. ‘Corruption and Mexican Political Culture’, Journal of the Southwest, 45(4): 671–708.</ref>. Furthermore, excessive red tape is often exploited by unscrupulous bureaucrats, who arbitrarily come up with endless requirements to complete an administrative process. For instance, it is not uncommon for people seeking everyday public services (renewing a driving licence, obtaining a birth certificate, regularising a land title, applying for construction permits etc.) to be asked to present documents never mentioned before or listed anywhere, or to be sent through an endless succession of queues. Alternatively, as Coronado<ref>Coronado, G. 2008. ‘Discourses of Anti-Corruption in Mexico. Culture of Corruption or Corruption of Culture?’, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(1), http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/479</ref> narrates, the public official can also play upon the possibility that the applicant’s documents may ‘get lost’ or the procedure could be ‘delayed’; it is not uncommon to ask for a ‘tip’ after the paperwork has been submitted, ‘ahí lo que quiera dar para la cooperación del juez’ (‘whatever you would like to give for the judge’s cooperation’). The overall effect of these patterns is to create a sense of unpredictability when citizens engage with state officials. Not surprisingly, in some cases, citizens resort to a ''mordida'' as a preemptive action just to avoid time-consuming procedures.

	‎[[File:mordida 2.jpg\|400px\|thumb\|left\|A possible traffic incident involving a mordida]] Besides being linked to excessive and costly bureaucratic procedures, the ''mordida'' can also take the form of an outright coercive act. Perhaps the most common example of this involves law enforcement officers threatening severe consequences from (sometimes even minor) traffic violations or other misdemeanors. The ''mordida'' is, then, often offered out of fear of the consequences that would befall the individual should he or she fail to ‘appease’ the officer. In such cases, the act of bribing arises from the perception that law enforcement officers can and do commit abuses of power with impunity. As LaRose and Maddan<ref>LaRose, A. P., and S. Maddan. 2009. ‘Reforming La Policía: Looking to the Future of Policing in Mexico’, Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, 10 (4): 333–48.</ref> recount, in the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 the victors pursued strategies to centralise power, which led to the development of a police force with great autonomy and little oversight. Thus, the commonly held view that the police are a tool of political oppression rather than law enforcement professionals<ref>LaRose, A. P., and S. Maddan. 2009. ‘Reforming La Policía: Looking to the Future of Policing in Mexico’, Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, 10 (4): 333–48.</ref><ref>Alvarado Mendoza, A. and C. S. Forné. 2011. ‘Relaciones de Autoridad Y Abuso Policial En La Ciudad de México’, Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 73 (3): 445–73.</ref> is a factor contributing to the willingness of citizens to settle legal issues informally through a ''mordida'' rather than having to face the criminal justice process. Therefore, as Del Castillo and Guerrero suggest, the bribe is often rationalised by citizens as a means to buy security<ref>Del Castillo, A., and Guerrero, M. A. 2003. ‘Percepciones de La Corrupción En La Cuidad de México¿ Predisposición Al Acto Corrupto?.’ Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, http://presupuestoygastopublico.org/documentos/transparencia/DT_134.pdf</ref>.

	There are specific rituals associated with giving a ''mordida'', which most Mexicans are familiar with, and which determine how the process of bribing is negotiated. For instance, the preamble to negotiating the ''mordida'' comes at the point where the public officer has made it clear that the citizen’s ‘situation is serious and it often involves phrases such as ''‘¿no habrá otra manera?''’ (‘Is there no other way?’) or ‘¿cómo nos podemos arreglar?’ (‘How can we reach an arrangement?’). At which point usually an amount is mentioned.

	Not infrequently, some negotiation is involved before agreeing on the price of the bribe. This is an interesting moment because it often opens up an informal space between the citizen and the public officer. Thus, the process of negotiating the amount of the bribe can involve both parties appealing to each other on the basis of the hardships each must face in their personal lives. For example, criminologist and blogger Christina Johns has written about a strategy she and her husband devised to lower the amount of the ''mordida'' while travelling around Mexico: she would pretend not to speak Spanish and when her husband “translated for her” what the police officer wanted she would hysterically start screaming ‘No, no, no, no!!’ In her analysis, this strategy consistently worked because police officers would empathise with the husband, who apparently had to contend with a difficult ''gringa'' (foreign woman)<ref>Johns, C. 2014. ‘The Mordida: Mexico and Corruption’. Law, Power and Justice, http://www.cjjohns.com/lawpowerandjustice/commentaries/mordida.html.</ref>.

	In spite of the fact that bribing is known to be widespread, the language used during the actual transaction is often careful and respectful, and one does not make any direct reference to the act of bribing or call it by its name. There is a common understanding that the transaction needs to be discreet. For example, when bribing a traffic officer, the money is often hidden inside the traffic rulebook before it is handed over.

	The amounts paid for mordidas seem to be related to either the value of the prospective fine, in the case of traffic violations and other misdemeanors, or to whether the service can be obtained elsewhere, in the case of bureaucratic processes. Further, mordidas to evade sanctions typically involve higher amounts than those meant to simply speed up a process. According to data reported by Transparencia Mexicana the average cost of a ''mordida'' in 2010 was 165MXN (about 12 USD). Bailey and Paras (2006) estimated an annual aggregated cost to the economy from mordidas of over 1 billion dollars in 2001.

	At the national level, there are several instruments that quantify the prevalence of the ''mordida'' in Mexico. One example is the Índice de Corrupción y Buen Gobierno published by Transparencia Mexicana, which ranks 35 public services according to the frequency of households reporting to have used a ''mordida'' to obtain a service (Transparencia Mexicana 2011). Another available data source is the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP): it conducts surveys every other year, including questions on the prevalence of ''mordidas'' given to police officers and other public officers. The results are published the results in a searchable database.

	==Notes==
	<references />
	[[Category:Mexico]]
	[[Category:Central America]]

Admin at 19:20, 29 October 2015

2015-10-29T19:20:52Z

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	[[Category:Mexico]]		[[Category:Mexico]]
	[[Category:~~Americas~~]]		[[Category:Central America]]