Seizing Windows of Opportunity to Dismantle Kleptocracy
When voters, protestors, and other engaged citizens open windows of opportunity to dismantle “kleptocracy”—government controlled by officials who use political power to appropriate the wealth of their nation—all too often reform momentum dissipates within a couple years. At that point, corrupt elements retake power. But over the past two decades, audacious anti-corruption reform movements in countries transitioning away from kleptocracy have met these historic moments and sustained institutional reforms. These reformers innovate radically transparent disclosure requirements, strictly independent accountability bodies, and structurally inclusive economic growth policies. They stand up these institutions faster than the traditional incrementalism of anti-corruption development. And they scope the policy details—how much information becomes public, how foreign experts vet candidates to lead anti-corruption bodies, how aggressively oligarch-owned monopolies are broken up, etc.—to be far more transparent, independent, and inclusive than in countries not suffering from kleptocracy and foreign-backed “strategic corruption.”
