Kleptocracy as an Institutional Problem
In political debate, kleptocracy is usually treated as a pathology of distant regimes. The term evokes images of corrupt autocracies where ruling elites openly plunder the state.
But this view misses a more unsettling possibility: kleptocracy is not merely the result of bad leaders. It can emerge as a logical outcome of political institutions themselves.
The key question is therefore not simply who governs, but what incentives governance creates.