Kickback

A variant of bribery characterized by agreement or collusion between the two parties in a transaction.

Those involved agree in advance to share of the proceeds or benefits of the transaction. The kickback may be in the form of cash, gifts, or other services.

Kickbacks can be a feature of contract awards, with a proportion of the contract value being given personally to the individual awarding the contract; but can also be used in other contexts, such as rewarding someone for the award of a lucrative contract or making an appointment to a powerful position. Kickbacks occur in both the public and private sectors. The term derives from the concept that the person receiving the illicit benefit kicks back part of the benefit to the party responsible for granting the benefit.

Kickback is also the title of an influential corruption-related podcast.

RDP

Kleptocracy

A government in which corrupt individuals rule on the basis of extensive self-enrichment rather than the public interest, expropriating the wealth and resources of the state and of private citizens.

Derived from the ancient Greek terms klept (steal) and kratos (rule, as in democracy or autocracy), the term was originally used in the early nineteenth century, but has been applied with great frequency over the past two decades. Kleptocracy is defined in the US Strategy on Countering Corruption as “a government controlled by officials who use political power to appropriate the wealth of their nation. Can include state capture”. The related term kleptocrat describes the key individual(s) directing and benefitting from a kleptocracy.

The term overlaps with the concepts of grand corruption and state capture. However, some of the key characteristics of kleptocracy are only partially shared by those other concepts:

• • The principal beneficiaries of the accumulated wealth are those at the apex of state power, with prominent roles in government, or their close family and associates;

• • The prime objective of governing is personal enrichment, and the maintenance of power in order to safeguard and extend the wealth;

• • The process of accumulating the wealth does not necessarily take place within the law;