Captured democracies, rule by the few
Rosa Cañete
As part of the series “Elites, State Capture, and Inequality,” this report analyzes 11 mechanisms through which elites exert influence over states. Most of these practices are legal, but illegitimate. They include mechanisms such as the revolving door, aggressive lobbying, party financing, bribery, and the use of media campaigns with manipulated information that position the interests of a few in the public debate, even when these interests run counter to the well-being of the citizenry.
The study is based on the analysis and systematization of mechanisms reported in 13 cases documented by academics and investigative journalists. The results of the analysis of these 13 cases demonstrate how Latin American elites seize power to undermine democratic processes and develop public policies that favor their interests at the expense of the rest of the population. In these 13 cases, it is evident how political and economic elites manipulate government decision-making to maximize their tax privileges over the rights and benefits of the majority in Latin America and the Caribbean, the most unequal region in the world. The study details how the influence of elites on Latin American states contributes to increased poverty and inequality.
This phenomenon is known as “state capture” and is reflected in the constant obstruction of public initiatives with redistributive potential. Studies conducted in several countries, including El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic, demonstrate that poverty has increased as a result of fiscal policy. The poorest people in these countries have ended up not as beneficiaries, but as financiers of the tax system.
To counter this capture, fiscal policy is the most powerful tool states have to redistribute wealth and combat inequality, thereby reducing poverty. However, in these several countries, it had the opposite effect, contributing to increased poverty. Therefore, it can be said that states captured by elites are failing in their duty to guarantee equal rights for all.
En Captured democraciesSpecific recommendations are put forward to ensure higher-quality democracies. These recommendations aim to prevent elites from creating or shaping laws, policies, and institutions that facilitate their privileges and, therefore, undermine one of the fundamental rules of the democratic system: the guarantee of equal rights for all people.
“Citizen participation, both social and political, is key to ensuring a counterweight to the interests of elites in the debate and definition of public policies. Only by strengthening democracy and limiting the capture of the state by elites can inequality be reduced. And only by reducing inequality, by ensuring that public policies do not privilege any one elite, can we have more democracy,” the study concludes.
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