The Autocratic Regime System Spread By Putin Threatens Us All

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The great achilles heel of the global autocratic-oligarchic system pokes out periodically and massive street protests erupt, as they inevitably do – hence the riots in Kazakhstan now. What consolation such regimes offer to citizens – stay out of politics and we will take care of you – fails at predictable stress points (Moscow’s version differs slightly; the deal there is ‘you stay out of politics and we make you feel good by rebuilding the empire’). Elites monopolize power and funds leading to inefficiency and corruption. A lot of money disappears abroad. The country’s staple raw material’s value often dips on world markets hitting internal subsidies. Inevitably they fail, at various points, to provide their part of the bargain. Here’s a terrific essay on the phenomenon titled “Can ‘Good’ Economics Coexist with ‘Bad’ Politics?”

The author, among other things a former senior official at the world bank, identifies how the corruption spreads outward to affect global standards. The World Banks’ ease of doing business rankings includes one such instance. “There are invariably,” he writes “large public sectors – particularly when natural resources are important – in which state-owned enterprises continue to play a prominent part. The latter function symbiotically with strategically placed private companies, some of which have been acquired through privatization”. He points to the famous Yukos dispute in Russia and the Tristan Oil case in Kazakhstan.

Read the full article here on Forbes.