Category: corruption

Kleptocracy and kakistocracy feed on each other

     

In a kleptocracy, criminal behavior is not individual, opportunistic, or sporadic, but rather collective, systematic, strategic, and permanent. It is a system in which all the high-level government officials are complicit, where… Read more »

Consolidating democracy after Malaysia’s election tsunami

     

Following his stunning electoral upset over Prime Minister Najib Razak, Malaysia’s 92-year-old prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad is steadfast on the need for reform and said his earlier tenure in no… Read more »

How Britain lets Russian kleptocrats hide dirty money

     

British financial complicity with Russian kleptocrats is undermining the country’s national security and democratic institutions, says analyst Oliver Bullough. Over the past decade, £68bn has flowed from Russia into Britain’s… Read more »

Activist’s trial highlights Angola’s reputation for nepotism and corruption

     

Angola’s new government must tackle the country’s reputation for nepotism and corruption, both at home and abroad, analysts suggest. President João Lourenço has made a positive start in challenging the… Read more »

To ‘mature as a democracy’, Malaysia’s ‘sick-minded’ corruption must end

     

Malaysia’s new government on Monday established a special task force to probe possible criminal offences relating to country’s 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) sovereign wealth fund, the FT reports: The task… Read more »

China ‘regressing on reform’: Beijing’s sharp power underscores need to promote liberalization

     

India and China are jostling for influence in Iran and Central Asia, Nikkei reports, as New Delhi’s 7,000km transport corridor cuts across Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. Prime Minister Narendra… Read more »

Russia’s ‘fusion of power and criminality’: how to combat Putin’s kleptocratic mafia

     

There is little prospect of a Russo-American ‘grand bargain’ or rapprochement, even if Vladimir Putin visits Washington, in part because the US will not abandon democracy promotion, a RUSI analysis suggests: Russia unsuccessfully pushed for… Read more »

Russian kleptocrats ‘fraught with anxieties’: why the latest sanctions will bite

     

The lives of Russian kleptocrats in Britain are suddenly fraught with new anxieties, the Washington Post reports: Critics in London of Russian President Vladimir Putin are reevaluating their need for… Read more »