Difference between revisions of "Coima (Argentina)"

The Spanish word ''coima'' originally denoted a concubine or prostitute, and probably had its roots in the Arabic word ''quwaima'', meaning a girl. The word ''coima'' arrived in South America under Spanish colonial rule when it was used to describe a rake-off—a share or small fine paid to the keepers of often illicit and clandestine gaming houses (Collins<ref>Collins Spanish-English Dictionary. Available online at http://collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/spanish-english</ref>; Dictionary of the RSA<ref>Royal Spanish Academy (RSA). 1925-2016. Diccionario de la lengua Española. Multiple editions. Madrid: Espasa Calpe</ref>). Since colonial times ''coima'' has been used to denote the fastest and indeed sometimes the only way to ‘get things done’ (Soca 2012<ref>Soca, R. 2012. La fascinante historia de las palabras. Buenos Aires: Interzona Editora</ref>), often therefore fulfilling a practical and necessary function in day-to-day life. The practice of ''coima'' in the form of payments to low- and medium-ranking officials follows established informal rules and tariffs, which are part of what Calcagno (2000<ref>Calcagno, E. 2000. ‘Modelo neoliberal y “cometa” en Argentina,’ Le Monde Diplomatique (Edición Cono Sur): 17 (November)</ref>) dubbed ‘the folklore of public administration.’

The Spanish word ''coima'' originally denoted a concubine or prostitute, and probably had its roots in the Arabic word ''quwaima'', meaning a girl. The word ''coima'' arrived in South America under Spanish colonial rule when it was used to describe a rake-off—a share or small fine paid to the keepers of often illicit and clandestine gaming houses (Collins<ref>Collins Spanish-English Dictionary. Available online at http://collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/spanish-english</ref>; Dictionary of the RSA<ref>Royal Spanish Academy (RSA). 1925-2016. Diccionario de la lengua Española. Multiple editions. Madrid: Espasa Calpe</ref>). Since colonial times ''coima'' has been used to denote the fastest and indeed sometimes the only way to ‘get things done’ (Soca 2012<ref>Soca, R. 2012. La fascinante historia de las palabras. Buenos Aires: Interzona Editora</ref>), often therefore fulfilling a practical and necessary function in day-to-day life. The practice of ''coima'' in the form of payments to low- and medium-ranking officials follows established informal rules and tariffs, which are part of what Calcagno (2000<ref>Calcagno, E. 2000. ‘Modelo neoliberal y “cometa” en Argentina,’ Le Monde Diplomatique (Edición Cono Sur): 17 (November)</ref>) dubbed ‘the folklore of public administration.’

''Coima'' has a coercive element because it is rooted in social bonds and societal relations, requiring an act of exchange between the giver and the recipient that resembles the act of exchanging gifts, favours and other forms of reciprocity while ultimately helping to form and strengthen social ties based on a sense of obligation. In the words of the Argentine writer Roberto Arlt, ‘We live in the ''coima'' empire, the realm of trickery, the land of villainy […] Coima is everywhere: invisible, certain, effective, precise. […] And those who do not engage in ''coima'', tolerate ''coima''’ (Arlt 1929<ref>Arlt, R. 1929. ‘Your majesty – la ''coima'',’ El Mundo (16 January)</ref>). Nearly a century later, Eric Calcagno wrote that Argentines had become indifferent towards the incidence of ''coima'' at almost any level, and that, as a result, corruption of almost any size had ceased to shock them. ''Coima'' and corruption was a ‘settled and accepted custom,’ as a result of which the country had entered an ‘advanced stage of decomposition’ where ''coima'' had become an institutionalised mode of social regulation and part of a larger ‘system’ (Calcagno 2000<ref>Calcagno, E. 2000. ‘Modelo neoliberal y “cometa” en Argentina,’ Le Monde Diplomatique (Edición Cono Sur): 17 (November)</ref>).

''Coima'' has a coercive element because it is rooted in social bonds and societal relations, requiring an act of exchange between the giver and the recipient that resembles the act of exchanging gifts, favours and other forms of reciprocity while ultimately helping to form and strengthen social ties based on a sense of obligation. In the words of the Argentine writer Roberto Arlt, ‘We live in the ''coima'' empire, the realm of trickery, the land of villainy […] Coima is everywhere: invisible, certain, effective, precise. […] And those who do not engage in ''coima'', tolerate ''coima''’ (Arlt 1929<ref>Arlt, R. 1929. ‘Your majesty – la ''coima'',’ El Mundo (16 January)</ref>). Nearly a century later, Eric Calcagno wrote that Argentines had become indifferent towards the incidence of ''coima'' at almost any level, and that, as a result, corruption of almost any size had ceased to shock them. ''Coima'' and corruption was a ‘settled and accepted custom,’ as a result of which the country had entered an ‘advanced stage of decomposition’ where ''coima'' had become an institutionalised mode of social regulation and part of a larger ‘system’ (Calcagno 2000<ref>Calcagno, E. 2000. ‘Modelo neoliberal y “cometa” en Argentina,’ Le Monde Diplomatique (Edición Cono Sur): 17 (November)</ref>).

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