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No-Free-Lunche t1_iw6tc92 wrote

Is there a precedent for a state which was taken over from within by criminals in a democratic way? There are all sorts of dictatorships, but usually those took over by a coup. The question refers to a nation where a gang, gangs, or an assortment of criminals, took over by exploiting democracy and employing populism slowing over years to convince everyone they should vote for them, e.g. by cutting deals with the media, finding ways to use institutions for their criminal activity like laundering money, etc.

I have on mind an example but want to hear your thoughts first.

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MeatballDom t1_iw9ck38 wrote

Define criminals/gangs, etc.

I think that's going to be crucial for your argument. What do you consider criminals/gangs? A lot of political parties would fit very well within a lot of definitions for that, but if you're thinking more Bloods and Crips then perhaps not.

But the factions involved in fifth century Athens and the use of ostracism to make the people feel like they were deciding when it was just "gangs" controlling the demos for their own benefit certainly disrupted power and put influential groups into seats of power (i.e. Themistocles, Pericles). And then there's other issues like just influencing the population through accusations, witch-hunting, and turmoil (e.g. the profanation of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the destruction of the Herms), which allowed for political arrests and trials with the public support.

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jezreelite t1_iw9kla4 wrote

Southern Italy and Sicily after the dissolution of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies is pretty close. The Sicilian Mafia, Neapolitan Camorra, and Calabrian 'Ndrangheta existed before 1860, but they came into their own in a big way after that point. Yet, even so, they never quite replaced government, nor fully managed to make themselves part of it.

Even closer to what you describe, though, would be Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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No-Free-Lunche t1_iwbbmn0 wrote

Maybe the closest would be N. Korea. Russia isn't really an example for anything.

I was unfamiliar with the Italian example but it's a lot less interesting to discuss a undeveloped 19th cen. state.

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