In person icon State Capture: Mechanisms of Capture and Challenges of Recovery

Abstract

When the term state capture was initially introduced into the corruption literature in the late 1990s, the principal frame of analysis focused on business leaders improperly influencing the formation of policy in ways that baked in long-term economic privileges. As new cases have come to light, scholarship has emphasised that captor groups can also hail from political parties, government institutions and organised crime groups. This panel analyses how political captor groups abuse their democratically-mandated power to systematically control the allocation of state resources as well as to disable the institutions that are supposed to hold them to account, through research into case studies from Europe, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. The papers explore some of the mechanisms through which democracies are captured, as well as the conditions under which accountability institutions and the public seek to maintain autonomy and/or uphold democratic principles. The papers also delve into the challenges of recovering from state capture, including the pursuit of justice and recovery of stolen assets.

Title	Details
‘National Consultations’ in Hungary as a Form of State Capture	View Paper Details
Reforming the ‘Land of the Little Something’: The Challenges and Opportunities of Addressing State Capture in Kenya	View Paper Details
Regulating Illicit Enrichment to Combat International Corruption	View Paper Details
State Capture and the Quest for Justice Post-Arab Spring: A Comparative Analysis of Justice and Accountability Models in Tunisia and Egypt	View Paper Details
State Capture in Southeast Europe: Findings from the New State Capture Index	View Paper Details