Kleptocracy

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"What a pity that I am not an honest man!"

Kleptocracy literally meaning Rule of Thieves is an authoritarian and economically variable ideology used to describe a form of government in which power is held primarily by criminals, corrupt officials, self-interested oligarchs and other such groups. Kleptocracy is often found in countries that collapsed after being Marxist–Leninist One-Party States and transitioned rather unsuccessfully, an infamous case of this is Russia.

Liberal democracies can also suffer from this they might develop shadow kleptocracies that influence the government through legal means such as lobbying or illegal means such as bribery in order to gain favors from government officials. This phenomenon is called corruption.

Foundations

The mechanisms of the state government are devoted almost entirely to taxing the resources and the population of the country, by means of taxes, diversion of funds, etc. The leaders of the system enlarge great personal fortunes, especially the highest position of head of state (like the president or prime minister), along with those closest to them such as ministers, governors, mayors and personal advisers. The money is laundered or diverted to secret bank accounts, usually in tax havens, as a cover for embezzlement or theft.

The economies of kleptocratic regimes tend to decline constantly (In fact, this is not absolute. During the reign of Jiang Zemin, China's economic aggregate grew rapidly.), as the systematic corruption engendered by the government means that the economy is subordinate to the interests of the kleptocrats.

Historically, the socio-political environment associated with the colonial system - the domination of colonized countries, where their economies are very vulnerable as they depend on a small number of raw materials - has been particularly prone to the creation of the last kleptocracies: Africa, Latin America and also Post-Soviet states are the most prone regions.

The stealthy nature of corruption makes it difficult to combat, as there is often very little information about the identity of the corrupt.

Variants

Police Militias

A police militia is a crime organization composed of ex-cops and ex-military personnel, usually in conventional gang activity, but taking advantage of "lost" military equipment to expand its businesses.

Labor Cronyism

Labor Cronyism (or Crony Laborism) describes a situation where a government or regime has a cronyist relationship with trade unions. Under this system, trade unions are given favorable treatment and unfair advantages in the economy by the State, often bordering on corruption. However, in virtually all cases of labor cronyism the capitalist mode of production is preserved; often because the State sees private business as necessary but should be held accountable. Trade unions are seen as a method for keeping capitalists under the State's boot. Some debatable examples of crony laborism include Juan Peron and Getúlio Vargas. Some regimes (e.g., Mussolini's Italy) blended labor cronyism with Crony Capitalism. FDR was also accused of labor cronyism as his government actively encouraged strikes and cooperated heavily with organized labor to undermine businesses opposed to the New Deal.

Kingism

Flag of Kingism

Kingism is the ideology of the Latin Kings gang, it has been described as a mix of strong discipline, revolutionary politics and a homegrown religion.

According to the manifesto, there are 3 stages to the development of new Kings:

  • Primitive stage - In this stage Kings act primaraily out of impulse, without much thought on the actions they are tasked with carrying out.
  • Conservative stage - In this stage Kings settle down, starting to ponder their actions, and possibly get married and start a family.
  • New King stage - In this stage Kings recognize the need for a mental revolution, and focus their efforts on freeing the enslaved, putting human lives above any material gains.

History

Soviet Union

Main Article: Marxism-Leninism

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Russia

Boris Yeltsin

  • Boris Yeltsin was a Russian and Soviet politician who served as the first president of Russian Federation from 1991 to 1999. Yeltsin was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1961 to 1990 and was a supporter of the perestroika reforms of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. In 1987 he was the first person to resign from the party's governing Politburo, which established his popularity as an anti-establishment figure.

In 1990, he was elected chair of the Russian Supreme Soviet and in 1991 was elected president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). On 18 August 1991, a coup against Gorbachev was launched by pro-communist government members opposed to perestroika. Gorbachev was held in Crimea while Yeltsin raced to the White House of Russia which was surrounded by the military, but the troops defected in the face of mass popular demonstrations and Gorbachev was rescued. Although restored to his position as General Secretary, Gorbachev had lost his support to Yeltsin due to aforementioned events. Taking advantage of the situation, Yeltsin began taking over what remained of the Soviet government, ministry by ministry, and on 6 November 1991, Yeltsin issued a decree banning all Communist Party activities on Russian soil.

On 17 December, in a meeting with Yeltsin, Gorbachev agreed to dissolve the Soviet Union and 8 days later resigned and handed the functions of his office to Yeltsin. On 26 December, the Council of the Republics, the upper house of the Supreme Soviet, voted the Soviet Union out of existence, thereby ending the world's oldest, largest, and most powerful Communist state.

Just days after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, President Boris Yeltsin of the Russian Federation with the help of economic advisors such as Anatoly Chubais and Acting Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar initiated a program of radical economic reform that came to be known as “economic shock therapy, ” which consisted of rapid privatization of most public assets, complete dismantlement of the welfare state, and removal of all tariffs and regulations. The results were the emergence of a new elite commonly referred to as “the oligarchs” consisting of former communist officials who became rich through buying up privatized former state-owned industries. Corruption grew rampant and violent crime became increasingly common. Throughout the 1990s, Russia's GDP fell by 50%, vast sectors of the economy were wiped out, inequality and unemployment grew dramatically, and the standard of living fell. Hyperinflation, caused by the Central Bank of Russia's loose monetary policy, wiped out many people's personal savings, and tens of millions of Russian citizens were plunged into deep poverty.

In 1993, President Yeltsin marked a constitutional crisis commonly described as a self-coup d'état: first, he ordered the execution of members and supporters of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation who challenged his authority. Then he abolished the post of vice president, thereby ousting Alexander Rutskoy, who challenged his authority. Then, with US support, he quickly enacted a new Russian Constitution, not entirely legitimate, by a referendum, which expanded the powers of the president and paved the way for the election of people totally loyal to Yeltsin and the oligarchs to the new parliament, called the "State Duma".

In December 1994, Yeltsin ordered to invade the breakaway state of Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in an attempt to restore Moscow's control over the republic and resource-rich region. The invasion was met with international outcry as the First Chechen War resulted in tens of thousands of civilian casualties and hundreds of thousands more displayed.

Boris Yeltsin despite being massively unpopular with the Russian public made the run for a second term in the 1996 Russian presidential election which he won to the dismay of the majority. It is generally believed that Yeltsin won said election through US interference from the Clinton Administration which wanted to prevent a return to socialist rule. After his victory, Yeltsin orchestrated all sorts of techniques to prolong his own rule. The de facto leadership of the country were Yeltsin's friends and relatives, as well as dodgy oligarchs like Boris Berezovsky and Roman Abramovich.

Ramzan Kadyrov

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Sergei Lavrov

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Mikhail Mishustin

  • Mikhail Mishustin is a Russian politician, official, and tax official of the Putin era who became prime minister of Russia after Dmitry Medvedev resigned.

In 1998, Mishustin became assistant to Boris Fedorov, head of the State Tax Service of the Russian Federation, on information systems of accounting and control of tax payments. He then became Deputy Minister for Taxes and Levies and head of the Federal Real Estate Cadastre Agency (Rosnedvizhimost) within the Ministry of Economic Development.

Since 2004, he has been the head of the Federal Real Estate Cadastre Agency.

From 2006 to 2008, he was the head of the Federal Agency for Management of Special Economic Zones.

From 2010 to 2020, he was the head of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation. Under him, taxes were collected intensively and grew, in spite of the beginning of the collapse of the economy.

According to Fontanka.ru, from 2010 to 2018, when Mikhail Mishustin was head of the Tax Service, he and his wife earned nearly 1 billion rubles. The Anti-Corruption Foundation estimates that Mishustin's wife earned about 800 million rubles. Mishustin's income during that period ranged from 19 to 30 million rubles a year, while his wife's income ranged from 47 to 160 million rubles.

Kazakhstan

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Ukraine

In Ukraine, Kleptocracy is associated with two presidents: Leonid Kuchma (1994-2004) and Viktor Yanukovych (2010-2014).

Kuchmism is a term used to describe the period of rule of President Leonid Kuchma, who was the President of Ukraine from 1994 to 2004. Kuchism was a result of old Soviet-era officials and regional criminal elites merging together and is one of many post-Soviet regimes. The term was coined by the organization "Pora! (black)" (It's time!) in late March 2004.

Some of its main features include:

  • Concentration of power in the hands of a single financial-multiparty corporation.
  • Union of legislative, executive and judicial power as an integral mechanism of control over society and guaranteeing the permanence of the regime with the help of "power structures" not controlled by the public.
  • High levels of corruption and the power of various oligarchic clans, but mainly from Dnipropetrovsk (now Dnipro) and Donetsk.

Pavlo Lazarenko, an infamous prime minister (1996-1997) during Kuchma's administration was charged with money laundering and extortion.

During the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych (2010-2014), some forms of Kuchmism can be seen again, however, this time Donetsk elites had more power. Following the Revolution of Dignity (or Euromaidan), on February 21, 2014, he fled the country.

The absolute majority of corrupt politicians in the country have extremely close ties with Russia. High levels of corruption are still visible to this day.

Party of Regions and the parties that formed shortly after its disbandment in 2014, like Opposition Bloc, Opposition Platform - For Life, Our Land, Revival, and Nashi all classified themselves as social liberal but were almost always authoritarian, kleptocratic, Russophile and oligarchical in nature. All of these parties were banned after the 2022 invasion, with Platform for Life and Peace surviving as a crippled remnant. However, it lost popular support, and many of its key members had fled Ukraine or were arrested, including former OPFL leader Medvechuk.

Poland

Jacek Sasin

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Zbigniew Ziobro

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Mateusz Morawiecki

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Zaire

Flag of Mobutism

In Zaire, now the modern-day Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mobutu Sese Seko got into power as a military general by assassinating the socialist prime minister Patrice Lumuba in the 1961 coup backed by Belgium and the CIA. Upon the Congo crisis, (which started the country's turmoil not long after independence), many separatists and socialist insurgencies took power in certain areas of the country. But to the intervention of the UN, the republic was vanquished in no time.

Elections in the Congo took place on March of 1965 when the Convention Nationale Congolaise party won the majority vote. However, Mobuto disagreed that Évariste Kimba should be prime minister, and planned a successful coup that inaugurated himself as dictator of the Congo, thus ending the Congo conflict and restoring (some) stability. Upon the rest of the 1960s, Mobutu started to introduce a policy where many things were Africanized, especially city names like Stanleyville being renamed Kisigani.

On 27 October 1971, he renamed the country Zaire, after the Zaire river.

Mobutu was willing to strong-arm opponents, but because many of his views were anti-communist such as supporting the Portuguese in Angola (and as said helping kill Patrice, who was a socialist), USA and Apartheid South Africa were willing to support Zaire for the rest of the Cold War (despite the latter being a wignat state).

However, Mobutu's rule would be started to have been tampered, because MPLA had now won independence for Angola, and wanted to topple Zaire. They then funded former separatists in the Katanga province known as the Congolese National Liberation Front, and sent two failed incursions in the country to otherthrow Zaire.

By the time the Cold War ended, the USA stopped supporting Mobutu and started to isolate his country.

In Rwanda however, the Tutsis felt oppressed by the Hutu government and started to rebel. As a result, this led to a horrible event; the Rwandan Genocide. This led to many Tutsis fleeing to Zaire. Hutu extremists, ALIR and Interahamwe also fled to Zaire, and used refugee camps to try to build a coalition to invade Rwanda. To reduce a rebellion by the Tutsis, started allowing the Hutus to shelter in eastern Zaire. But this only gave the Tutsi-dominated government in Rwanda an excuse to invade the region. Uganda & Burundi, all three of which which Mobutu had supported opposition groups against in the past.

Congolese Laurent Kabila believed that by siding with the invaders and rebels, he can end Zaire, bring a democratic state, and improve living conditions in the Congo. Well, Zaire's dictator had been dying anyways. Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo was created and operated in the eastern portion of Zaire, and overtime, the more the war went on the more territory Kabila helped foreign invaders seize. Zaire had to rely on mercenaries from around many countries in Africa with some from Europe, with the promise of giving them access to African resources. The White Legion was made up with former Yugoslavia, defended Kisangani until it fell. Months after, Angola started dropping in troops near the capital. Eventually, Kabila and his allies reached the Congo and the the Democratic Republic of the Congo was proclaimed. To avoid capture, Mobutu flees to Morocco, where he dies a few months after.

ROC/Taiwan

Main Articles: Tridemism and National Liberalism

  • Chen Shui-bian- Chen Shui-bian is the former General Secretary of the Democratic Progressive Party and served as President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2000 to 2008. Chen became involved in politics in 1980 during the martial law period of the Kuomintang, then led by Chiang Ching-kuo when he defended the participants of the Kaohsiung Incident in a military court. Even though his client, pro-democracy dissident Huang Hsin-Chieh, was found guilty and sentenced to 14 years in prison, Chen became inspired to join the Tangwai movement to push for democracy and end Kuomintang's one-party rule over Taiwan.

Chen helped found the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 1986 and was elected a member of the Legislative Yuan in 1989, and Mayor of Taipei in 1994. Chen won the 2000 presidential election and pledged "Four Noes and One Without" during his inauguration, which meant that he wouldn't declare Taiwan Independence as long as the People's Republic of China didn't intend to use military force against the island.

Chen Shui-bian wasn't a very popular president due to alleged corruption within his administration and the inability to pass legislation against the opposition KMT, who controlled the Legislative Yuan. In 2004, he won reelection by a narrow margin after surviving a shooting while campaigning the day before the election. Chen's opponents accused him of staging said incident for political purposes.

On November 3, 2006, Chen's wife Wu Shu-Chen, and three other high-ranking officials of the Presidential Office were indicted for corruption of NT$14.8 million (US$450,000) of government funds using faked documents. However, Chen was not indicted, as the constitution of the Republic of China protects the sitting president from prosecution.

After his 2nd term ended in 2008, Chen and his wife were convicted on bribery charges and sentenced to 19 years in Taipei Prison. Chen was granted medical parole in 2015 and was released from prison.

China

Main Article: Maoism and Dengism

Corruption has been (and to a certain extent still is) a significant problem in China since the foundation of the People's Republic in 1949, impacting all aspects of administration, law enforcement, healthcare, and education. Since the Chinese economic reforms began, corruption has been attributed to "organizational involution" caused by the market liberalization reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping during the 1980s. According to multiple scholars, it was corruption and abuse of power by government officials, rather than a demand for a transition to liberal democracy, that led to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. Corruption accelerated to new heights during Jiang Zemin's government (1989-2004). Bribing local officials became an essential part of life for most Chinese citizens to get by and gain access to social services. Entire cities fell under the control of triads and the mafia with government protection. Human trafficking skyrocketed with hundreds of thousands of women and children being kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery and forced labor within China and abroad. People's money and state assets were embezzled by government officials and the business elite and stacked into overseas bank accounts. The staggering levels of corruption caused most Chinese citizens (and many CPC officials) to lose faith in the Chinese government, causing many to send their kids to study and make connections abroad, should things not work out at home. (In fact, in Xi's era, going abroad is still a trend, because education in the Chinese Mainland and other aspects of involution is extremely serious. But studying abroad is limited to the rich, those who have relations with government departments, and other people with superior conditions.)

Former President Jiang Zemin managed to maintain great influence following his retirement in 2004, through the persecution of Falun Gong and by stacking the new Administration of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao with his own cronies, ensuring that both the military, law enforcement, propaganda apparatus, and many local officials remained loyal to himself. While the 2000s saw China experiencing every level of economic growth due to international corporations seeking to exploit China's massive labor market, citizens' faith in the CPC's rule remained low due lack of judicial and political reform. Anti-corruption trials happened from time to time but were more often than not motivated by personal grudges and power struggles between different factions of the CPC than aspirations for real change. Dissatisfaction with corruption and authoritarianism culminated following the government's weak response to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, eventually leading to the 2011 Chinese democracy protests, inspired by the Arab Spring.

After Xi Jinping became Paramount Leader in 2012, the issue of corruption has been brought to significant attention as hundreds and thousands of corrupt party members and billionaires, many of whom had been Jiang's allies, have been arrested and sentenced to life in prison. This includes former Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, Zhou Yongkang, former Communist Party Secretary of Chongqing, Bo Xilai, Ling Jihua, among countless others. Some of Xi's political enemies have even gone into exile in the west, such as billionaire businessman Guo Wengui.

Many observers view this as a part of a broader power struggle between two different political factions led by Xi Jinping and Jiang Zemin respectively. While Xi Jinping's Anti-Corruption campaign has been viewed in a generally positive light and regained much confidence in the CPC's governance for improving social services, public safety, and reducing graft, it has also been subjected to much criticism. Anti-Corruption trials are frequently abused to crush dissent and the lack of judicial and political reform makes all gains that have been achieved over the past decade easily revertable. Recent scandals and atrocities such as the Henan banking scandal, and the Xuzhou chained woman incident are proof that there's still much to be done before China becomes a country with rule of law.

PLA Corruption

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Lai Changxing

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Human Trafficking

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Hong Kong

Kowloon Walled City was a Chinese city enclave from British Hong Kong. The city appeared as a military character Chinese, but became an enclave after the UK picked up new territories in 1898.

In the city there were crimes, drugs, gambling, and prostitution , in which Chinese triads were plentiful, like the 14K and Sun Yee on. In 1960 there were mass buildings, in which developers built new constructions on top of the old ones since the city was extremely populated (50,000 people in 1990). Other things in the city were the increase in small manufacturing and peaceful companies and the increase of "false" medical and dentists. In 1987, the Hong Kong government stated that it would demolish the city, being concluded in 1994. Currently, the place of the city turned into a park with city artifacts preserved.

Japan

Nobusuke Kishi

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Yoshio Kodama

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South Korea

Forced repatriation of North korean defectors


Guilty


Origin
Two male sailors who defected to South Korea in 2019 were judged as murderers without any trial by the South Korean court, and were forcibly repatriated through Panmunjom against their will. As in the case of the murder of a public official in the West Sea, the government's position on the incident that occurred under the Moon Jae-in government was overturned by the Yoon Seok-yeol administration.

《True Kleptocracy》
The forced repatriation to North Korea violates not only the Constitution of the Republic of Korea but also the International law agreed upon by the United Nations. The Moon Jae-in government violated Articles 9 and 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which prohibits forced eviction of its citizens, in that, according to the South Korean constitution, North Korean seafarers were forcibly returned despite being Korean citizens. It also violated the Convention against Torture by forcibly repatriating North Koreans to North Korea, where inhumane treatment is rampant.
Image of the event.

《Rebuttal》
The problem of this case: They were sent back to North without a proper investigation. There are arguments that this forced repatriation was acceptable. However, their reasons(evidence) are scanty: The reason why they were sent back (Evidence they killed 16 people):

  • 1. (No DNA or blood tests were done) There were traces of crime like blood (Unsure if it was fish or human blood)
  • 2. Confession of the defectors.

The problem is that the North Korean defectors were judged as murderers without any investigation, whether they were really murderers or not. This can later be abused. Arguments like Murderers deserve to go back to north/are not, they are also south koreans/are not is not the point of this situation.

Independent-Investigative agency


Origin
The Independent-Investigative Agency act by tried to weaken the role of the original Investigative Agency (A Public Institution that investigates Corruption). It was brought up when Yoon Suk-yeol started investigating the crimes of the current government in 2020.

Supplementary explanation
The Independent-Investigative Agency act by has serious problems. The goal of the prosecution reform should be to ensure that the prosecution is no longer the "maid of the regime," but contributes to the human rights of the people through objective and fair investigation. However, there is a high possibility that the Independent Investigative Agency will become a new limb of the president through the president's authority over human resources. It is better not to introduce such an organ. In addition, the Independent Investigative Agency by is designed to be a slim organization with less than 25 prosecutors and less than 40 investigators. But the range of cases in charge is vast. The prosecution and the police have no jurisdiction, and the agency has no manpower. What kind of organization handles the cases? Furthermore, the role of the agency's authorities should also vary according to the outcome of the adjustment of the prosecution and police investigation. It is also contradictory to push it at the same time.

LH land speculation

Origin
LH land Speculation is an incident where the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) employees collectively speculated real estate in areas related to their business plans, such as the 3rd new town (to concentrate land worth of Democratic Party of Korea government's third New Town plan ). Afterwards, as a result of additional disclosures and investigations, the controversy spread to all-round speculation by related public officials and emerged as a key issue in the political world.

Effects

  • The essence of this case is that it goes beyond simple speculation, and is a typical non-transactional type of corruption in which employees of public institutions use undisclosed inside information to gain an unfair advantage. In addition, their speculation can be pointed out as a part of the cause of the exponential rise in Korea's house prices.
  • On the other hand, the government excluding the Investigative Agency's investigation (of the LH speculation) as much as possible rose suspicion that the government tries to adjust the police and the Investigation authority to prevent them from investigating their corruption. This could also be connected to the Independent-Investigative Agency act of (Mentioned above)


(Find out about Comfort-woman incident and Public opinion Manipulation Case for more Kleptocracy of . Google translator required)

Hungary

Orbanism is an economically center to center-right, culturally right-wing, and strongly authoritarian ideology used to represent prime minister of hungary Viktor Orban.

Serbia

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France

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Italy

A notable Italian example of Kleptocracy is the Berlusconi Prime Ministry where he was found to have abused his position through Bribery, Defamation, and Soliciting minors. During his premiership, Berlusconi enacted what in Italy is called "Leggi ad Personam", so he basically created several laws that protected him and his friends from the constant attempt to issue an unbiased trial against him (in the end he pretty much succeded)

The United States

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Mexico

In Mexico, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) is an example of a kleptocratic political party. The PRI was founded by Plutarco Elías Calles in 1929 with the intention of creating a dominant-party state which lasted from 1929 to 2000. While the party has moved to the right from its original founding values (state atheist protectionist social authoritarianism to secular free-trade authoritarian capitalism), kleptocracy and support for the dominant-party system remained consistent. The PRI made a brief comeback from 2012 to 2018 under Enrique Pena Nieto, but he was not succeeded by another PRI leader, since the electoral system by that point was fairer.

Nicaragua

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Panama

Manuel Noriega was the former president of Panama in the military era between 1983-1989 and ex-military. He became known for his relationship with the United States, his authoritarianism, militarism, corruption, and drug trafficking.

  • Corruption: In his government, there were numerous scandals of corruption and relations with drug trafficking, especially Cocaine, allying himself with criminal groups such as the Medellín Cartel and drug traffickers Pablo Escobar and Steven Kalish. There was money laundering from trafficking, protections from high drug revenues from trafficking in Miami, and the sale of Soviet weapons to Armscor in South Africa.
  • Authoritarianism: His authoritarianism is evident when compared to other dictators like Pinochet and Gaddafi, because of the repression and murder of opponents, such as the murder of the doctor and activist Hugo Spadafora. There were also frauds and the annulment of the 1989 election. He also tripled the military forces and used them against the communists, especially in the Panama Canal fearing invasion, as well as funding the Contras in Nicaragua. He was also accused of a sexist stance because his brother is homosexual.
  • Relationship with the United States: Initially, Noriega had good relations with the United States, especially due to his anti-communism, in which he gave financial assistance to his army and supported the Contras together. Over time, relations deteriorated, especially with regard to drug trafficking, in which a White House official blamed him for the international drug trafficking, in addition to having close relations with enemy countries such as Cuba and Libya, among others. others. In 1988, the US tried to negotiate Noriega's resignation, but it didn't work, causing the US to invade Panama in 1989, with 27,000 troops and 300 aircraft, making it one of the largest US military invasions since Vietnam. He managed to escape the US for a while but was captured soon after, being tried for drug trafficking, money laundering, and extortion, in which he was arrested in 1992, sentenced to 40 years, and later extradited to France, dying in 2017 in Panama.

Venezuela

Main Article: Chavismo

Bolibourgeoisie or Bolichicos are terms describing the oligarchy created by the Venezuelan government of Hugo Chávez. Corruption among the bolibourgeoisie and Chávez-administration sympathizers involves the theft of billions of dollars with the complicity of public officials, with some becoming rich under the guise of socialism. The Bolibourgeoisie kept growing stronger after the death of Hugo Chávez and holds significant power and influence on the administration of Nicolás Maduro.

Throughout his tenure, Hugo Chávez confiscated thousands of properties and businesses to reduce the influence of foreign companies over the country's economy. Venezuela's economy became increasingly state-controlled and was operated by military officers that had their business and government affairs connected.

Brazil

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Peru

Main Article: Fujimorism

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Argentina

Main Article: Peronism

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Tunisia

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Lebanon

The young Lebanese Republic was established in 1920 with French support as part of the Sykes-Picot agreement. The country was rocked by Syrian nationalism and sectarian tensions, in 1923, as part of the Newcombe-Paulet agreement, South Lebanon was transferred to the mandate of Palestine, despite demographic realities in the region. When Lebanon declared its independence in 1943, and achieved it for good in 1946, it was already plagued by corruption, the reasons for these are varied, between an exploitative and inefficient colonial administration forced by the French, a confessionalist ruling model that favoured nepotism and fostered sectarian tensions, and a tradition of political dynasties going back to the Ottoman era, Lebanon didn't manage, despite efforts of nationalists of all confessions, Muslims like Saeb Salam or Christians like Camille Chamoun, to shake off its endemic corruption. The legacy of the Ottoman and French rule still curses the country's transparency to this day, the Lebanese bureaucracy is bloated, and it is home to many archaic laws that destroy any attempt at reform. Since 2019 however, people have started massive country-wide protests in light of a fiscal crisis, which the government of Lebanon caused, and in which the bank accounts of the Lebanese people were robbed. The power of the ruling elite now stands in question, the old dynasties are shaken, and it is unclear if they will manage to hold power for another decade.

Iraq

Main Article: Ba'athism and Shia Theocracy

  • Nouri al-Maliki is the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party and was the Prime Minister of Iraq from 2006 to 2014 and the vice president of Iraq from 2014 to 2015 and 2016 to 2018. Nouri Al-Maliki began his political career as a Shia dissident under Saddam Hussein in the late 1970s and rose to prominence after he fled a death sentence into exile in Syria and Iran for 24 years. During his time in, he became a senior leader of the Islamic Dawa Party and coordinated the activities of anti-Saddam guerrillas with the help of the Syrian and Iranian governments who shared his goal of overthrowing Saddam's dictatorship.

Nouri al-Maliki returned to Iraq after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq and the fall of Saddam and became the deputy leader of the Supreme National Debaathification Commission of the Iraqi Interim Government to o purge former Baath Party officials from the military and government. In 2006 al-Maliki was appointed the first full-term post-war Prime Minister of Iraq by the US and the same year he signed the death warrant of Saddam Hussein. During his eight years in power from 2006 to 2014, allegations of corruption were widespread, with hundreds of billions of dollars allegedly vanishing from government coffers to enrich al-Maliki and his cronies. Iraq also continued to be one of the most dangerous places for journalists in the world and annually scores very low on Reporter Without Border's Press Freedom Index to this day.

Nouri al-Maliki's regime came under much scrutiny for alleged sectarianism with the creation of a Shia-dominated dictatorship and the expense of Kurds and Sunni citizens which has resulted in both Kurdish nationalism and Sunni insurgency, culminating in civil war and the rise of ISIS.


Afghanistan

  • Hamid Karzai was the president of the transitional administration of Afghanistan from 2001 to 2004 and the official president until 2014. During his presidency, the growth of corruption began, there were attempts to create a big tent government and liberalization of the economy. Because of his policy, the discontent of the population grew, which turned into protests, which were harshly suppressed. Despite his democratic nature, he did not hesitate to fire and hire people for key positions.
  • Ashraf Ghani was the fifth and last president of Afghanistan. Under his administration, the policy of his predecessor - Karzai remained unchanged. Corruption took hold in the system, elections began to be falsified, and the influence of the USA began to gradually make Afghanistan the "51st state". Ghani was a modernist and supporter of Ammanullah Khan and Mohammed Daoud. He also wanted to transform Afghanistan from a "tribal society into a technocratic and developed state."

South Africa

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Thailand

Thaksin Shinawatra: Thaksin was accused of "policy corruption", such as infrastructure and liberalisation policies that, while legal "...abuse the public's interest,..." Supannee Chai-amporn and Sirinthip Arun-rue of the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) claimed that policy corruption caused the state to spend 5 to 30 percent more than it otherwise should have spent, costing the state an additional 400 billion baht. Thaksin critics point to more examples of corruption: the Thailand Board of Investment's (BOI) granting tax breaks worth a total of 16.4 billion baht to Shin Satellite for its iPSTAR project in 2003, and the Transport Ministry's decision the same year to abolish the minimum air fare of 3.8 baht per kilometer when Shin Corporation was about to consummate a joint venture with low-cost carrier AirAsia. After the 2006 coup, the military junta-appointed Assets Examination Committee froze Thaksin's assets based on charges of policy corruption.

Phrayut Chan-o-cha: Although Prayut claimed the 2014 coup was needed to combat corruption, some members of his own cabinet and members of the appointed national legislature, including his brother Preecha Chan-o-cha and Minister to the Office of the Prime Minister M.L. Panadda Diskul, have themselves been beset by various corruption scandals. However, the Office of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission concluded that Panadda was not involved in the alleged case. Prayut then prohibited any criticism of his government. In February 2015 he explained, "If people want to do opinion polls, they are free to do so. But if the polls oppose the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), that is not allowed."

Vietnam

  • Đinh La Thăng was a former Minister of Transport, former Communist Party Secretary of Ho Chi Minh City, and former member of the Politburo and one of the most disgraced CPV officials for his many scandals.

In 2016, when the US-appointed Democrat politician Bob Kerrey who had commanded the U.S. Navy SEALS unit that carried out the Thạnh Phong massacre in 1969 during the Vietnam War, as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Fulbright University Vietnam, Đinh La Thăng was the only high-ranking CPV official who publicly supported the selection of Kerrey.

Đinh La Thăng was expelled from his position in the Politburo and arrested in 2017 for his mismanagement during his time as the Chairman of PetroVietnam from 2006 to 2011, which resulted in a loss of 800 billion VND (35.28 million USD) from its investment in Oceanbank. On 22 January 2018, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

The Philippines

WIP

Malaysia

  • Mahathir Mohamad: During Mahathir's era in the 1980s-2000s, several scandals from the BNM Forex Scandal, Perwaja Steel and Bank Bumiputra erupted. RM31.5 billion worth of losses had been incurred by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) in its foreign exchange (forex) losses between 1992 and 1994. The Bank Bumiputra scandal was one of Malaysia’s biggest financial scandals before 1MDB. The bank lost 1 billion USD in public funds to an elaborate scheme of corruption, false accounting and sham profits. The main mastermind behind this web of deceit was a civil engineer by the name of George Tan, who had fled Singapore after his first bankruptcy in 1972, and ended up in Hong Kong.
  • Najib Razak: 1MDB scandal was a large corruption, bribery, and money laundering scandal which began in 2009 in Malaysia but became global in scope and was exposed in 2015. It was described as "one of the world's greatest financial scandals" and declared by the United States Department of Justice as the "largest kleptocracy case to date" in 2016. In 2015, Malaysia's then-Prime Minister Najib Razak was accused of channeling over RM 2.67 billion (approximately US$700 million) into his personal bank accounts from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a government-run strategic development company masterminded by Low Taek Jho. The court ruling declared that Najib was found guilty of using the said funds for corporate social responsibility (CSR), contrary to popular belief. Currently, he was appealing to the Federal Court as new evidence for the 1MDB case emerged, which involved the former minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop, former Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia Zeti Akhtar Aziz, and her husband, Tawfiq Ayman[7]. However, his final appeal was rejected and was sentenced to 12 years jail and a fine of RM210 million (45283035 USD).
  • Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman: In July 2021, he was charged with criminal breach of trust and misappropriation of funds belonging to his former party, BERSATU. For the first charge, Syed Saddiq, the then-BERSATU's youth chief, was charged with criminal breach of trust for withdrawing RM1.12 million via a cheque without BERSATU's supreme council's approval. He was charged with another accusation of misappropriating RM120,000 in BERSATU donation money intended for the 2018 general election. In August 2021, Syed Saddiq had been charged again with two corruption charges of money laundering. According to the charge sheet, the accused transferred RM50,000 from his bank account to his Amanah Saham Bumiputera account on 16 June 2018 and another RM50,000 on 19 June 2018. Saddiq pleaded not guilty to the charges and currently, the case is yet to determine whether he was guilty or otherwise.
  • Lim Guan Eng:
  • Khir Toyo:

Indonesia

Suharto was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia through a repressive military dictatorship from 1967 until his own resignation in 1998.

The future military dictator grew up under the Dutch Colonial Era and joined the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) in June 1940 at the age of 19. During the Japanese occupation era, Suharto changed allegiance to serve in the Japanese-organized Indonesian security forces, PETA. After the Japanese surrender in the Pacific to the Allied, independence leaders Sukarno and Hatta declared Indonesian independence and were appointed president and vice-president respectively of the new Republic. Under the new government, Suharto joined Indonesian Army to fight the Dutch forces who had returned to take back control over their former colony. Throughout the 1950s, as a colonel, Suharto would crack down hard on uprisings of Dutch collaborators and Islamic extremists. Throughout the rule of socialist Sukarno, the Communist Party of Indonesia, PKI which was closely affiliated with Sukarno’s regime, increased massively in numbers and popularity upsetting both the Indonesian military and the US who would do anything to prevent a communist take-over in the country.

Due to a combination of Sukarno’s extensive nationalizations, autarky, and foreign sabotage by the CIA, the economy of Indonesia deteriorated rapidly, resulting in widespread poverty and hunger and foreign debt obligations became unmanageable, and infrastructure crumbled.

On 30 September 1965, six generals were killed by a group calling themselves the 30 September Movement who alleged a right-wing plot to kill the President. General Suharto led the army in suppressing the abortive coup attempt which blamed the PKI for. After the events surrounding the 30 September Movement of 1965, General Suharto took control of the country in a Western-backed military overthrow of the Sukarno-led government in an event that came to be known as the Transition to the New Order. What followed was the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66, large-scale killings and civil unrest that occurred in Indonesia over several months, targeting PKI members, communist sympathizers, Gerwani women, feminists, ethnic Javanese Abangan, and ethnic Chinese among other dissidents that were suspected to hold left-wing views. The Indonesian genocide was directly supported by the US, British , and Australian intelligence services which provided weapons and logistical support for the Indonesian army and “kill lists” of suspected dissidents. According to the most widely published estimates, at least 500,000 to 1.2 million people were killed over the course of 2 years.¨

From 1966 to 1967, to promote the assimilation of Chinese Indonesians, the Suharto government passed several laws as part of the so-called "Basic Policy for the Solution of Chinese Problem", which included banning all Chinese cultural and religious expressions from public space, prohibition of Chinese schools, and encouraging ethnic Chinese to take Indonesian-sounding names.

Suharto proceeded with social engineering projects designed to transform Indonesian society into a de-politicized "floating mass" supportive of the national mission of "development", a concept reminiscent of corporatism. The New Order regime created and required all civil servants and employees of the state- and local government-owned enterprises. and those of Bank Indonesia to join KORPRI (the Employees' Corps of the Republic of Indonesia) to ensure their loyalty.

Suharto enlisted a group of mostly US-educated Indonesian economists, dubbed the "Berkeley Mafia", to formulate government economic policy to solve the economic crisis left by the Sukarno era. By cutting subsidies and government debt, and reforming the exchange rate mechanism, inflation dropped from 660% in 1966 to 19% in 1969. Sukarno's economic autarky policies were reversed by opening selected economic sectors of the country to foreign investment under the new Foreign Investment Law of January 1967 and foreign companies that had previously nationalized were re-privatized and returned to their original owners. The government began a series of large-scale intensive investments in infrastructure under a series of five-year plans. Indonesia experienced massive economic growth during the New Order coincided with rapid expansion in corruption, collusion, and nepotism as Suharto used his dictatorial rule to enrich himself and his family and cronies, Suharto embezzled 15 to 35 billion dollars which makes him the most corrupt politician in the history of the world.

In 1974, the neighboring colony of Portuguese Timor descended into civil war after the withdrawal of Portuguese colonial authority following the Carnation Revolution, whereby the leftist-leaning Fretilin emerged triumphant. Western governments persuaded Suharto to intervene in East Timor to prevent socialism from prevailing in the former Portuguese colony. Suharto authorized a full-scale invasion of the colony on 7 December 1975 followed by its official annexation as Indonesia's 27th province of East Timor in July 1976. The United States under Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter furnished over $250,000,000 of military assistance to Indonesia between 1975 and 1979. An estimated minimum of 90,800 and maximum of 213,600 conflict-related deaths occurred in East Timor during the Indonesian occupation that lasted until 1999.

Suharto ruthlessly suppressed elements that he perceived to be a threat to the New Order society. From 1983 to 1985, army death squads murdered up to 10,000 suspected criminals in response to a spike in crime rate. Attacks on police by the resurgent Gaddafi-aided Free Aceh Movement in 1989 led to a brutal military operation that killed up to 12,000 people, mostly civilians.

By the 1980s Western concern over Communism waned with the end of the Cold War, leading Suharto's human-rights record to come under greater international scrutiny and the New Order regime lost much of its support from the western governments that helped its rise to power in the first place. By the 1990s, elements of the growing Indonesian middle class, created by Suharto's economic development, were becoming restless with his autocracy and his family's brazen corruption, fueling demands for reform of the 30-year-old New Order system.

By 1996, Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of Sukarno and chairwoman of PDI, became the rallying point for this growing discontent. In response, Suharto backed a co-opted faction of the PDI led by Suryadi, which removed Megawati from the chair. On 27 July 1996, an attack by soldiers and hired thugs led by Lieutenant-General Sutiyoso on demonstrating Megawati supporters in Jakarta resulted in fatal riots and looting. Suharto's grip on power weakened following severe economic and political crises that stemmed from the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The economy suffered a flight of foreign capital, leading to a drastic drop in the value of the Indonesian rupiah, which severely impacted the economy and people's livelihoods. Persuaded by US President Bill Clinton, Suharto turned to IMF and accepted their structural adjustment programs to bring Indonesia out of the economic crisis. However, things did not get better and in May 1998 massive riots broke out triggered by corruption, and economic problems, including food shortages and mass unemployment. Many within the Military government actively supported the riots as they had too lost faith in Suharto’s reign.

On 21 May, Suharto resigned and was replaced by former Vice-President B.J Habibie, and the New Order Military Regime finally came to an end with a period of political reform ("Reformasi") followed that would lead to the transition to democracy.

Cuba

  • Fulgencio Batista - Fulgencio Batista was former president of Cuba twice (1940-1944 and 1952-1959), in addition to being a former military officer and former senator . He was one of the main leaders of the 1933 coup/Revolt of the Sergeants, in which, along with Dr. Ramón Grau, he overthrew President Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada in 1933, was later elected in 1940.

In the first presidency, he helped the US in World War II, declaring war on the Axis countries, ended up leaning to the left, having a considerable amount of regulations and taxes, in addition to declaring himself a democratic socialist, also being supported by socialists.

After the first presidency, he was a senator and founding leader of the Progressive Action Party. In 1952, with support from the Cuban army, he led a coup d'état, overthrowing President Carlos Prío Socarrás and taking over as president/dictator.

In his second presidency, he took a different position than the 1st, taking out regulations, increasing inequality, opposing unions and powering corporations. There was an improvement in the economy and development, in addition to higher salaries, but there were still high social inequalities, even lacking basic sanitation. The Cuban government at the time became known for its relations with organized crime and governmental hedonism, becoming known as "Las Vegas of Latin America" ​​for its resemblance to Las Vegas, because of the casinos, nightclubs, prostitution and drugs, housing millionaire businessman and mobsters. (Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano), making Cuba even appear in the movie The Godfather 2. He also legalized homosexuality, but it was only to favor homosexual prostitution, gay bars and nightclubs. There were cases of corruption (especially with mafiosi) and almost a transformation into a narco-state, especially marijuana and cocaine, being abundant and very used. The Cuban government had become a police state, known for its brutality and authoritarianism, which an estimated 20,000 civilians were killed, in addition to its dependence on the United States, especially military and economic, for its anti-communism and having been an ally, even if later had disagreements.

With various social problems, corruption and inequality, opposition to his government grew, but they were violently repressed, causing the rebels to create guerrillas, in which the best known was the July 26 Movement, led by Fidel Castro, Raúl Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara. The Movement made insurgencies with guerrilla tactics, having support from Yugoslavia, in which they tried to overthrow some of them before the revolution, but failed, having to flee. Subsequently, the Cuban Revolution took place, in which the movement (along with others) overthrew Batista on December 31, 1958 and Fidel Castro became the president, supported by the USSR.

He fled Cuba and was exiled to Portugal under Salazar, living on the island of Madeira, dying of a heart attack in Guadalmina (Spain) on August 6, 1973.

Personality

Kleptocracy is immensely shady and will do almost anything to get as much money and power as possible. Unlike the libertarian right ideologies, he openly advocates for an authoritarian state to preserve his power with minor concessions to the people to keep them satisfied, whether this be appeals to social conservatism or liberal welfare with a lot of red tape. In essence, he is portrayed as offering protection solely if there are huge clauses attached, not unlike a gangster offering protection, hence him being portrayed as a prisoner.

May be depicted as Tony Soprano or Paulie Walnuts

How to Draw

Flag of Kleptocracy

Kleptocracy's design is based on the stereotypical striped prisoner outfit. It is also Brickster's flag flipped 90 degrees.

  1. Draw a ball and fill it with white
  2. On the ball draw a hat
  3. On the ball draw a number of vertical alternating black bars
  4. On the hat draw a number of horizontal alternating black bars
  5. Add the eyes and you're done!
Color Name HEX RGB
Black #141414 20, 20, 20
White #FFFFFF 255, 255, 255

Relationships

Family and Goons

  • Authoritarian Capitalism - Wanna drill oil?
  • Corporatocracy - My #1 business partner. What do you mean that we can't do business anymore because of Ukraine?!?!?!
  • Stratocracy - Who's a good boy? You are!
  • Financialism - Why rob banks when you OWN the banks? So I can rob 'em too!
  • Kraterocracy - Taking what's yours. I like the way you work.
  • Oligarchy - The only form of government that actually exists! We usually work together!
  • Autocracy - The only other form of government that exists! We work great in Belarus.
  • Banana Republicanism - My Latin American son that Neocon adopted.
  • Plutocracy - Most rich people are criminals, and that's based.
  • Police Statism - As long as I'm in power, they'll do whatever I say.
  • Absolute Monarchism - Henry VIII was epic ngl.
  • Machiavellianism - Woke up this morning, got myself a gun. What do you mean I must know how to do good?
  • Juche - I may not like how you abolished taxes but your "Lazarus group" is really based.
  • Illuminatism - Same methods as me with a final goal in mind.

Questionably loyal

  • Propertarianism - What I own is mine and what you own is also mine, so give me protection money bitch!
  • Mediacracy - Take this money and promote the kleptocratic cause on RT and Televisa, but if you try to criticize me, I'll have you thrown out of the balcony.
  • Fourth Theory - Supports me in Russia for some reason but he hates me everywhere else.
  • Populism - Hehe, some people are stupid enough to believe his nonsense. He's not even noticing that he's getting me into power. What a fool. (I still have to fight Zelensky because he does live up to promises and banned my ideological followers).
  • Ochlocracy - Same as above, you're the one that always wants this "mob rule" thing. So there you have it! You now got the "mob rule" you want! Now stop complaining.
  • Marxism-Leninism - You arrested the father of the founder of Russian kleptocracy! But Putin praised Stalin.
  • Nazism - You claim to hate corruption, yet you created a separate brigade for criminals and Hermann Göring was hella based. You even robbed tons of Europe's Culture artifacts and treasures.
  • Kritarchy - Bitter internal enemy immune to bribery and my bane of existence.But like him, as long as I am in power you will do everything I say.
  • Illiberal Democracy - Stop pretending to oppose me when we're often on the same side.
  • Hive-Mind Collectivism - Collectivism is based but how can I be corrupt if everyone is the same?
  • Avaritionism - My impulsive, violent, aggressive and psychopathic cousin. And please stop behaving like a dick and trying to steal my wealth, or else I just order my police officers to kill you without trial.
  • Kakistocracy - You may not like me, but you often lead to me.

Idealist Idiots and Rats

  • Illegalism - Unorganized crime, no state? Pathetic, for I am a better criminal than you can't even imagine. You are an expendable asset at best, or another punk to be put in cement shoes at worst.
  • Liberalism & Libertarianism - This moron thinks monopolies are a bad thing.
  • Anarcho-Capitalism - What do you mean every government is criminal? It's only me.
  • Anti-Authoritarianism - Ah, you want to challenge my rule? You make me laugh.
  • Noocracy & Meritocracy - What do you mean I can't pay-to-win and need to complete a test?
  • Aristocracy - For fuck's sake, your "honorable" ancestor was probably just a scumbag like me.
  • Democracy - Sorry to burst your bubble but this ideology doesn't exist.
  • Fascism - This bastard sent his Black Shirts to destroy me, but the mafia won in the end. (Also what the hell kinda brainwashing did you do to your men where they would rather die than betray you? I really need to learn some of those tips.)
  • Neozapatismo - Viva PRI!
  • Longism - Share the wealth? NEVER!
  • Eisenhowerism - This moron thought that the military-industrial complex is a bad thing. Your Vice President, Nixon was Based.
  • Bonapartism - Stop Throwing me in the trash arresting corrupt governement Officials and fixing bad infrastructure.

Further Information

Literature

Wikipedia

Political Parties

Historical

Media

Articles

Videos

Gallery

Alternative designs

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Cuba in its presidency had several gay nightclubs, gay bars, prostitution and drug trafficking incentives. If you committed to them, you were persecuted.
  2. ↑ He adopted an aggressive stance to protect his homosexual brother.
  3. ↑ Historians claim that Nixon did more in terms of desegregation than any previous president. At the same time, Nixon made use of the Southern Strategy to try and get votes from disillusioned Democrats in the South who were opposed to integration. This inconsistency can be explained by political pragmatism.
  4. ↑ The Nixon Administration increased welfare spending and proposed a form of basic income.
  5. ↑ When it comes to politics in Post-Soviet countries, the term "Liberalism" is often used in reference to economic freedom within a welfare state.
  6. ↑ Even ignoring "Operation Car Wash", his presidency was largely plagued with corruption scandals.

Citations

  1. ↑ [1], Detector.media.
  2. ↑ [2] (image link), CDN.Segodnya.ua.
  3. ↑ "Long live Nazism!" (in Russian), Obozrevatel.com. 17 July 2010.
  4. ↑ Tusk was in Union of Freedom, promoted Conservative Liberal, Free Market and Anti-Monopoly programs during 2007 elections, just to become culturally liberal, sell out Polish merchandise and give bailouts to corporations and banks, while again pointing PIS as authoritarian and an establishment in 2022.
  5. ↑ "Irresponsible Officials Still Get the Biggest Number of Lightest Penalties", CINS.rs.
  6. ↑ Yasser Arafat#Financial_dealings, Wikipedia.org.
  7. ↑ "MACC probes leaked investigation paper into RM2-6b Donation", FreeMalasiaToday. 31 January 2022.

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