Zusammenfassung
In den vergangenen Jahrzehnten hat sich, vor allem im globalen Süden, ein Diskurs über „Straflosigkeit“ entwickelt, der zahlreiche Ähnlichkeiten und Assoziationen mit dem über „Korruption“ aufweist. Der Artikel hellt theoretisch die – oft unterstellte, aber kaum je analytisch beleuchtete – Beziehung zwischen beiden auf. Dazu werden zunächst vier verbreitete Annahmen über die Art der besagten Beziehung und anschließend vier Gemeinsamkeiten identifiziert, die diese Annahmen einen. Um für die Gemeinsamkeiten eine soziologische Erklärung zu geben, wird eine Reihe von systemtheoretischen Theoremen zur Anwendung gebracht, wobei die Argumentation in drei Schritten verfährt: Korruption und Straffreiheit werden als Verstöße gegen zwei verschiedene Formen von Entscheidungsprogrammen dargestellt; diese beiden Arten von Programmen werden mit den Funktionssystemen Politik und Recht verknüpft und schließlich wird die Unterscheidung zwischen beiden Phänomenen als semantische Differenzierung ausgelegt, die der strukturellen Differenzierung der genannten Funktionssysteme auf der Ebene der Weltgesellschaft nachfolgt.
Abstract
During the past few decades a discourse about “impunity” has been rapidly gaining ground, mainly in the Global South, exhibiting multiple similarities and associations with the discourse about “corruption.” The article sets out to clarify the, often assumed but rarely analyzed, relation between both. To that end, first, four common assumptions about the nature of their connection, and subsequently, four commonalities implicit to the respective assumptions are identified. To offer a sociological explanation for these commonalities, a number of concepts from systems theory are applied, the argument proceeding in three steps: corruption and impunity are made out to be violations of two different forms of decision programs; these two types of programs are associated with the functional systems of politics and the law; and finally, the distinction between the two phenomena is interpreted as a semantic differentiation mirroring the said systems’ structural separation on the level of world society.
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