Kleptocracy

As a kleptocracy ( altgr. κλέπτειν kléptein, steal ' and democracy: κρατία kratia, rule ', ie about " rule of the looters ," " thieves rule " ) is a form of rule is referred to in the narrower sense, in which the rulers arbitrary power over property and income have the ruled and either themselves or their clients at the expense of the ruled. Coined the term of Patrick Meney, with which he describes the conditions in the Soviet Union at the beginning of the Yeltsin era at the end of the communist era and in Russia. Kleptocracies are more likely to dictatorships, often in conjunction with nepotism.

As examples of Mobutu Sese Seko et al kleptocracies government in Zaire and the Marcos regime in the Philippines are considered. Nigeria also can be seen as an example of a kleptocracy in the strict sense, because the largest part of the population, the participation in the profits of the oil business denied.

Extension of the concept

The historian Götz Aly used in his book Hitler's Beneficiaries expressly the term kleptokratisch and argues the Nazi state had bought the loyalty of a broad middle class of 95 % of Germans with means from excessive taxation of the rich as well as the deprivation of the Jews and the population of the occupied states came.