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Systemic Corruption, Oligarchic Democracy, and Plebeian Republicanism - 56:4 - LASA Forum
Constitutional democracies—liberal representative governments authorized through competitive elections—are supposed to be “good” regimes, aimed at protecting the common welfare—or at least, the welfare of the majority. However, juridico-political structures such as legal codes, regulatory frameworks, and the institutions that uphold them have systematically and disproportionally benefited the powerful few, who today control most of the wealth. In contemporary democracies, systemic corruption manifests through the convergence of political, economic, and legal power among a small elite. Even in jurisdictions celebrated for strong democratic traditions and welfare states such as Europe, wealth inequality remains stark: the richest 10 percent own almost 62 percent of total wealth, while the bottom half controls a mere 2.8 percent.[1] In Latin America, this disparity is even more pronounced, with the top 10 percent controlling almost 70 percent of wealth, and the bottom half holding only 2.3 percent. These inequalities are not simply by-products of market forces but result from oligarchic tendencies that are sustained and reproduced through laws governing property, taxation, corporate governance, campaign finance, and more.
