Institutional Capture

Extracted Attributes

• Definition

  The subversion of a democratic political system or institution by elite interests through corrupt or ideological means.

• Key Mechanisms

  Changing rules, diverting resources, disabling accountability, and exercising discursive or instrumental power.

• Key Researchers

  Hellman, Kaufmann, Lazega, and Milton Arrieta-L3pez.

• Alternative Name

  State Capture

• Proposed Solutions

  Qualified democracy, aretecracy, and civic-ethical licensing for public officials.

• Modern Critique Context

  DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) ideologies influencing institutional censorship.

Timeline

• Hellman and Kaufmann define institutional capture as efforts by firms to shape state laws and policies for private gain. (Source: Networks of institutional capture: a case of business in the State)

  2001-01-01

• Lazega and Mounier propose broadening the definition of institutional capture to include corporatist efforts to redesign institutions and influence rule enforcement. (Source: Networks of institutional capture: a case of business in the State)

  2012-10-01

• The All-In Podcast Episode 147 discusses TED's internal backlash against Coleman Hughes as a prime example of institutional capture by DEI ideologies. (Source: f1f8a42e-2cea-4c01-807a-ca2f99837b2e)

  2023-09-29

Qualified democracy

Qualified democracy is a proposed model of democratic governance that preserves universal suffrage and free, competitive elections while introducing prior civic–ethical qualification requirements for those who seek to exercise political power. Rather than replacing democracy, it is presented as an attempt to strengthen it by treating political leadership as a professional activity, subject to standards of competence, integrity and accountability comparable to those expected in highly regulated fields such as medicine or law. In this perspective, political office is not understood as an unregulated extension of the right to vote, but as a function that carries significant risks and responsibilities for the wider population. Advocates of qualified democracy argue that contemporary democratic systems often allow individuals with no demonstrable ethical reliability or civic competence to access positions of great power, which can facilitate corruption, populist manipulation and institutional degradation. A formulation of qualified democracy discussed in recent literature is the concept of aretecracy, developed by legal scholar Milton Arrieta-López. In his work, aretecracy is defined as a democratic framework that introduces civic–ethical licensing and continuous evaluation for holders of public office, while maintaining universal elections. A later concept note explicitly describes aretecracy as a form of qualified democracy, using the expression "aretecracy as qualified democracy" in the title itself. Although no contemporary state has fully adopted this model, the notion of qualified democracy and its aretecratic variant has been discussed in academic publications and cited in institutional documents, particularly in debates on democratic quality, political ethics and institutional reform.

Web Search Results

• [PDF] Networks of institutional capture: a case of business in the State ...

  Institutional capture can be defined as “the efforts of firms to shape the laws, policies, and regulation of the State to their own advantage by providing illicit private gains to public officials” (Hellman and Kaufmann, 2001; Kaufmann and Kraay, 2007). We suggest that this definition is too focused on individuals. We think that the definition of the process of institutional capture should be broadened to involve corporatist efforts to design or redesign institutions, to influence decision making in rule enforcement, and to obtain collective gains for interest groups in these institutions. These elements add to the capacity of collective actors to gather invisible advantages. A court can thus be captured, inasmuch as interest groups are successful in using their influence to benefit [...] analysis is efficient at measuring a level of institutional capture that is usually difficult to observe in complex joint governance by State and private actors (Lazega, 2003). In our case study, State captors can be representatives of the oldest incumbents, not new market entrants as in Stark and Bruszt (1998) or Hellman et al. (2000). [...] 3 Source: Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Comptabilité nationale, 2001 (

• Enrolling the Local: Community-Based Anti-Corruption Efforts ... - WWF

  ### Institutional capture and local participation Institutional capture refers to the subversion—or “capture”—of elements in a democratic political system by certain elite interests through corrupt means. Put differently, institutional capture exists when democratic processes are undermined or manipulated such that government policies and practices no longer favor the public interest, but rather those of private actors. In relation to the natural resource sector, for example, institutional capture might lead to a situation in which public goods—such as mineral or timber reserves on public lands, or the minerals and timber extracted for export—are illegitimately converted into private payoffs for an elite minority (Heidenheimer & Johnston 2002). [...] Institutional capture: A process by which institutions meant to advance the public interest are “captured” and instead made to serve the interests of certain groups or individuals, often including politicians, political parties, economic elites, and commercial actors. In the natural resource sector, an example would be the agency in charge of mining authorizations accepting payoffs from corporations in exchange for granting them permits despite those corporations’ failure to meet certain administrative requirements or environmental standards. [...] In conditions of high institutional/elite capture, where elite involvement and institutional capture are pervasive (e.g., where there is intense national and/or international interest in a high-value landscape and/or its resources), in addition to the above practitioners/policymakers should: Design community-based anti-corruption projects with this broader context in mind. Integrate such efforts with wider interventions to strengthen democratic institutions at the national level, and/or multi-level interventions aimed at achieving the vertical integration of social accountability (Camargo 2018, Fox et al 2016).

• Institutional Capture Defined → Area → Sustainability

  Two distinct, conical glass bottles one filled with a subtle pink solution and the other with transparent liquid are positioned on a light surface with a large, out-of-focus green plant dominating the background. A coral-colored, ribbed columnar object and light-colored, porous rock formations anchor the left foreground, while clusters of dried, golden ornamental grasses frame the right, establishing a scene rich in sustainable material juxtaposition. [...] A macro photograph focuses on the end-cap terminus of a salmon-hued cylindrical object, possibly a solid-state battery or sustainable energy cell, resting on a neutral gray aggregate surface. ## How Does Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Affect the Intensity of Fossil Fuel Power? ### You Might Also Like [...] A tranquil minimalist landscape unfolds featuring rolling hills cloaked in natural dry grasses, softly illuminated by a pale sunrise. ## What Is the Balance between User-Defined and PaaS-suggested Savings Goals? Two textured ceramic or perhaps compostable edible bowls resembling scallop shells cradle scoops of vibrant coral pink frozen dessert, possibly a fruit sorbet or gelato. ## What Metrics Best Capture the Success of a Community-Driven Support Model in Sustainability? A large, smooth, peach-toned biomorphic sculpture is integrated into an industrial ceiling structure composed of light gray concrete and wooden beams. ## How Can ‘Green Investment’ Options Be Integrated into PaaS to Capture Savings Sustainably?

• State Capture and Inequality | CIC

  Download Publication State capture is a type of systematic corruption whereby narrow interest groups take control of the institutions and processes that make public policy, excluding other parts of the public whose interests those institutions are supposed to serve. State capture is often associated with the first decade of transition in the former Soviet Union (FSU) and Eastern Europe. State capture has also spread to many countries that had once seemed to be resilient democracies or, in the case of transition countries, on a secure path toward democratization.

• State capture: New research and reflections on the field - GI-ACE

  From our perspective, some of these discussions could benefit from engaging with the conceptual framework of state capture. This would encourage researchers to interrogate the different types of captors (business groups, political parties, organised crime) and motivations (enrichment, power, impunity) that often lie behind executive power grabs. Moreover, more comparative analysis on the mechanisms of capture – changing the rules, diverting resources, and disabling accountability institutions – is badly needed to better understand what makes a state vulnerable to capture. Research on harms is also more prevalent in the corruption part of the sub-field, whereas scholars of democratisation focus on erosion of the democratic process and institutions as primary harms without always spelling [...] In the first paper, ‘Struggling to Prevail: Corporate Political Activism Dynamics Amidst Institutional Decline’, David Murillo from Ramon Llull University in Barcelona presented a valuable case study of capture in Peru. Corporate influence over state structures has very long roots in Peru, we learned, but has evolved over time with new players emerging and as new institutional settings come into being. The authors distinguish between discursive power, as the ability of business to shape perceptions, identities, and public opinion, and instrumental power, which involves direct influence through methods like lobbying and campaign finance. Structural power highlights the inherent political advantage business holds within the market economy system. [...] and institutions as primary harms without always spelling out what this means for economies and societies.