Confronting Kleptocracy: Transition, Recovery, and Reform from Kleptocratic Rule

Kleptocracy, defined by this study as a system that allows for political elites to reap the financial benefits of public assets through self-enrichment, is a governance-related issue that spans history and breaches the politics of modern day. This Capstone team’s objective was to support the efforts of The Sentry, an organization that strives to bring awareness of these kleptocratic systems to the public forefront, in evaluating these corrupt systems and providing recommendations for potential and effective action. By evaluating the common trends of historical kleptocracies, researchers effectively honed in on key pillars of kleptocratic industry, ultimately guiding the development of a “kleptocracy index.” This index, a combination of forty-one unique variables pulled from the V-Dem database, allowed the team to quantify the study’s understanding of kleptocracy, identifying key variables that coincide with both increasing and decreasing levels of kleptocracies. Aware of these correlations, the team optimized recommendations from broad systemic observations to actionable items, aligning them with strategic moments within a kleptocracy, conceptualized into a “kleptocracy cycle.” This cycle ultimately displayed the sequencing of events seen across the understanding of kleptocracies, and where The Sentry can most effectively implement their resources. Ultimately, the study’s recommendations were grounded in a combination of qualitative and quantitative research, overlaid with an understanding of The Sentry’s capabilities as an organization. This allowed the team to provide options to combat kleptocracy that were not only within a realm of possibility, but were optimized in the timing of their implementation.