State Capture: How democracy can be systematically corrupted
| Published date | 01 March 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/20419058241238187 |
| Author | Liz David-Barrett |
| Date | 01 March 2024 |
16POLITICAL INSIGHT•MARCH 2024
The term ‘state capture’ was
coined in the late 1990s and early
2000s to describe a pattern of
high-level corruption observed
in post-communist eastern Europe and
the former Soviet Union. At the time, a
small cohort of businessmen, who we now
know as oligarchs, were gaining inordinate
amounts of economic assets and power.
They did this by capturing state functions
State Capture:
How democracy can be
systematically corrupted
Around the world we see elected leaders violating norms and
changing constitutional rules to suit themselves. We often talk
about this in terms of populism and democratic backsliding. But
Liz David-Barrett argues that it is best analysed as a form of
systematic corruption known as state capture.
and processes. These oligarchs controlled
the laws that set the rules of the game
for the economy and the privatisation
process whereby state assets were sold to
private owners. This allowed them to gain
high-value and strategic companies at low
prices, and baked in regulatory advantages
that ensured their monopoly power or
privileged access to protected markets.
They used cronyist informal connections to
politicians to achieve all this, incentivising
political decision-makers with kickbacks
© Burhan Ozbilici / Alamy Stock Photo
Political Insight March 2024.indd 16Political Insight March 2024.indd 1619/02/2024 09:3119/02/2024 09:31
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