Kleptocracy (sometimes Cleptocracy) (root: Klepto+cracy = rule by thieves) is a pejorative, informal term for a government that is corrupt in its management of public funds in the sense that its management is designed to primarily sustain the personal wealth and political power of government officials and their cronies (collectively, kleptocrats).

Kleptocracies are often dictatorships or some other form of autocratic government, since democracy makes outright thievery for direct personal gain more difficult to sustain in the long term and still remain in power.

Kleptocratic governance means that the economy is subordinated to the interests of the kleptocrats. Distributive states that derive their wealth from the extraction of natural resources (e.g. diamonds and oil in a few prominent cases) can be particularly prone to kleptocracy. Redistributive economies that derive their wealth through taxation have a natural limitation on how far they can extend the kleptocratic policies on their population without destabilizing their government through extending their grab to their own supporters or driving the income producers away from the country or making them withdraw their labor or capital. When redistributive economies do exhibit kleptoctatic tendencies, they do so through using taxes collected from the general public to curry favor with the government's supporters. Examples of common groups that attract favour are the armed forces, welfare recipients, students, civil servants, farmers, retirees etc.

The creation of a kleptocracy powered by dictatorship typically results in many years of general hardship and suffering for the vast majority of citizens as civil society and the rule of law disintegrate. In addition, kleptocrats routinely ignore economic and social problems in their quest to amass ever more wealth and power.

Some observers use the term 'kleptocracy' to disparage political processes which permit corporations to influence political policy. Ralph Nader called the United States a kleptocracy in this sense of the word during the 2000 presidential campaign. A more accurate term for this influence over a state is plutocracy.

Transparency International ranking

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In early 2004, the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International released a list of what it believes to be the ten most self-enriching leaders in recent years.

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)

Kleptocracy in fiction

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In fiction, kleptocracy has sometimes been portrayed as an actual part of the government or an important city guild, such as in Fritz Leiber's "Ill Met in Lankhmar", and Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.

See also

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• Colonialism
• Failed state
• Raubwirtschaft

Pejorative political terms | Forms of government

Kleptokratie | Kleptokraatia | Κλεπτοκρατία | Cleptocracia | Kleptocratie | Cleptocrazia | Kleptokratie | Kleptocratie | Kleptokrati | Kleptokracja | Kleptokratia | Kleptokrati | Cleptocracia