"Twisted Transfers": Discursive Constructions of Corruption in Ancient Greece and Rome

什么是腐败？就像信任一样，腐败是生活中我们认为我们知道的事情之一，我们不断讨论，但我们很难定义。之所以如此，是因为这一概念适用于人类（相互）行动的各个领域，但也因为纯粹的法律主义，因此本质主义的定义往往不足以捕捉其复杂性。既有符合法律的规范但在其社会背景下被视为腐败形式的行为，也有在特定群体和背景下可能为社会所接受的非法行为。腐败需要至少两个人的参与。它涉及物质或非物质的东西的转移，这被不信任的观察者认为是法律上或道德上错误的。该项目将利用社会科学和人类学的识别符分析不同形式的转移：礼物、商业和第三类转移。T3t描述了给予者和接受者之间的一种非对称权力关系，遵循Alain Testart（2007）创造的术语。该项目的目的是了解为什么以及如何这些形式的转移可以（和）在话语中被称为“扭曲”，因此，作为腐败行为。臭名昭著的腐败的罗马西西里总督盖乌斯·维雷斯真的配得上这个标签吗？当西塞罗试图证明他是的时候，韦雷斯声称他“只是”制作和接受礼物。话语结构使我们能够超越法律腐败的定义，以调查其与特定的文化，政治和经济背景的相互作用。作为话语，“扭曲的转移”根植于规范价值观和正确行为的理想，以及对特定社会阶层或专业群体的陈规定型观念。在这个框架内，我们将集中在希腊罗马的古代，从古典雅典的法院到拜占庭外交的伦理，绘制出的案例研究，仍然强烈影响了后来的话语在今天的西方社会的形成。保存下来的资料来源相对丰富，种类繁多，提供了一个独特的材料库，使人们有可能彻底审视塑造古希腊和罗马文化、心态和话语的“扭曲的转移”。从传统的法律视角出发，《扭曲的转移》提出了一种创新的、建构主义的方法，这在腐败的历史研究中还没有得到充分的探索。关于古代和现代腐败问题的讨论具有时事性，这也将使我们能够制定一项相关的外联方案，以促进更广泛的公众参与。所需的各种专业知识，不同学术文化的独特方法，以及当今德国和英国在公共话语中处理腐败问题的各种各样的方式，使得国际合作对于项目的成功是必不可少的。

What is corruption? Like trust, corruption is one of those things in life that we think we know, we steadily discuss, yet we struggle to define. This is so because the concept is applied to various fields of human (inter)action, but also because purely legalistic, and thus essentialist, definitions are often insufficient to capture its complexity. There are both actions that conform to legal norms but are perceived within their societal context as forms of corruption, and illegal actions which may be socially acceptable within specific groups and contexts. Corruption requires the participation of at least two people. It involves a transfer of material or immaterial things, which is identified as legally or morally wrong by a mistrusting observer. This project will analyse the different forms of transfer using identifiers from the social sciences and anthropology: gift, commerce, and transfers of the third type (t3t). T3t describe a form of asymmetric power relationship between a giver and a receiver, following the terminology coined by Alain Testart (2007). The project's aim is to understand why and how these forms of transfer could be (and are) presented in discourse as "twisted" and, therefore, as acts of corruption. Was the notorious corrupt Roman governor of Sicily, Gaius Verres, really deserving of this label? While Cicero tried to prove he was, Verres claimed that he was "just" making and receiving gifts. Discursive constructions allow us to move beyond the definition of corruption in law in order to investigate their interaction with specific cultural, political and economic contexts. As discourse, the "twisted transfer" is embedded in normative values and ideals of correct behaviour, as well as in stereotypes about specific social classes or professional groups. Within this frame, we will concentrate on Graeco-Roman Antiquity, from the law courts of classical Athens to the ethics of Byzantine diplomacy, drawing out case studies that still strongly influence the formation of later discourses in Western societies today. The relative abundance and heterogeneous types of sources preserved provide a unique corpus of material that makes it possible to scrutinise thoroughly the "twisted transfers" that shaped ancient Greek and Roman cultures, mentalities and discourses. Moving away from the traditional legalistic perspectives, "Twisted Transfers" proposes an innovative, constructivist approach not yet fully explored in historical studies of corruption. The topicality of discussions on ancient and modern corruption will also allow us to develop a relevant outreach programme with the aim of promoting wider public engagement. The numerous kinds of expertise required, the distinctive approaches of different academic cultures, and the extremely varied ways in which corruption is addressed in public discourse today both in Germany and in the UK make international cooperation mandatory for the success of the project.