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State capture


State capture is a type of systemic political corruption in which private interests significantly influence a state's decision-making processes to their own advantage.

The term 'state capture' was first used by the World Bank (c 2000) to describe the situation in central Asian countries making the transition from Soviet communism. Specifically where small corrupt groups used their influence over government officials to appropriated government decision making to strengthen their own economic positions, these groups would later become known as oligarchs.

Allegations of state capture have led to protests against the government in Bulgaria in 2013-2014, and have caused an ongoing controversy in South Africa which started in 2016.

The classical definition of state capture refers to the way formal procedures (such as laws and social norms) and government bureaucracy are manipulated by private individuals and firms so as to influence state policies and laws in their favour. State capture seeks to influence the formation of laws to protect and promote influential private interests. In this way it differs from most other forms of corruption which instead seek selective enforcement of already existing laws.

State capture may not be illegal, depending on determination by the captured state itself, and might be attempted through private lobbying and influence. The influence may be through a range of state institutions, including the legislature, executive, ministries and the judiciary, or through a corrupt electoral process. It is thus similar to regulatory capture but differs through the wider variety of bodies through which it may be exercised and because, unlike regulatory capture, the private influence is never overt, and cannot be discovered by lawful processes, since either (or all) the legislative process, judiciary, electoral process and/or executive powers have already been influenced and subverted by the private special interests.

A distinguishing factor from corruption is that, while in cases of corruption the outcome (of policy or regulatory decision) is not certain, in cases of state capture the outcome is known and is highly likely to be beneficial to the captors of the state.


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