Kleptocracy.html



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A kleptocracy (sometimes cleptocracy, occasionally kleptarchy) (root: klepto+kratein = rule by thieves) is a term applied to a government that extends the personal wealth and political power of government officials and the ruling class (collectively, kleptocrats) at the expense of the population. A kleptocratic government often goes beyond mere cronyism and nepotism, or awarding the prime contracts and civil service posts to relatives or personal friends rather than the most competent applicants. They also create projects and programs at a policy level which serve the primary purpose of funneling money out of the treasury and into the pockets of the executive with little if any regard for the logic, viability or necessity of those projects.

Characteristics

Kleptocracies are often dictatorships or some other form of autocratic and nepotist government, or lapsed democracies that have transformed into oligarchies.^{citation needed}

According to one source, an old case of a kleptocratic governed state was Kievan Rus' where the alliance between Varangians and Slavic èlites set up this type of government which resisted all attacks till 1240 when the Tatars conquered Kiev.^[1]

In 2006, the Bush Administration enunciated a policy specifically to internationalize an effort to resist kleptocracies.^[2]

Effects

The effects of a kleptocratic regime or government on a nation are typically adverse in regards to the faring of the state's economy, political affairs and civil rights. Kleptocracy in a government often results in a severe deficit of foreign investment prospect, and drastic weakenings in the market and exportation/importation affairs. As the kleptocracy often embezzles its money from its citizens through tax payment or other money laundering schemes, a kleptocractically structured political system can be degrading to the quality of life of the general populace. In addition, the stolen funds that kleptocrats take to their own gain is often removed from funds that were to go towards public improvements, such as the building of hospitals, schools, roads, parks and the like, bringing about yet further adverse effects on the quality of life of the citizens living under a kleptocracy.^[3] The pseudo-oligarchy that results from a kleptocrat elite can also be undermining to the democracy, or any other political format the state is ostensibly under.^[4]

Transparency International ranking

In early 2004, the anti-corruption Germany-based NGO Transparency International released a list of what it believes to be the ten most self-enriching leaders in recent years.^[5]

In order of amount allegedly stolen (in USD), they are:

1. Former Indonesian President Suharto ($15 billion – $35 billion)
2. Former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos ($5 billion – $10 billion)
3. Former Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko ($5 billion)
4. Former Nigerian President Sani Abacha ($2 billion – $5 billion)
5. Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević ($1 billion)
6. Former Haitian President Jean-Claude Duvalier ($300 million – $800 million)
7. Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori ($600 million)
8. Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko ($114 million – $200 million)
9. Former Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Alemán ($100 million)
10. Former Philippine President Joseph Estrada ($78 million – $80 million)

See also

• Dictatorship
• Failed state
• Lumpenbourgeoisie
• Netocracy
• Oligarchy
• Political corruption
• Raubwirtschaft
• Narcokleptocracy

References