Corruption

Understanding Corrupt Governments as Criminal Networks

Sarah Chayes says that corrupt governments can be broken down by anti-corruption revolutions, such as those that occurred in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.

...Foreign assistance in many countries is a very important revenue stream that’s captured by the kleptrocratic network, either directly, by way of on-budget contributions, or indirectly, when they have their own implementers. The implementers of foreign assistance projects are actually wired into the network. Then there are private sector actors, which include purchasers of raw materials, who are very often willing to accept very dodgy deals, where they know that the raw materials actually belong to the general public. But they are illegally sold to a local operator. The foreign companies will buy the resources from a local operator, but that local operator actually belongs to the kleptrocratic network.