From liberal democracy to kleptocracy

In Chapter 4 (“From Liberal Democracy to Kleptocracy”), I turn to the democratic transition and its special concern for “hyper-presidentialism,” a system that incorporates massive vertical and horizontal concentration of quasi-legislative, administrative, and financial powers. I show that the country’s grand federal corruption, from which a crony private sector capitalizes, is closely related to this institution, which switched structural corruption first to a bilateral monopoly (1989–1999) and then to a Chinese trap (1999–2003).