State capture, as illegitimate monopoly in the government and the economy of established or aspiring democracies and market economies, has been a matter of debate and inquiry for a number of years. The rise of the prominence and assertiveness of authoritarian models of development globally, and the resurgence of such trends in Europe and in its enlargement domain have re-kindled the search for policy tools to monitor and tackle state capture.
The current report presents a State Capture Assessment Diagnostics (SCAD) methodology and shows the results from its piloting in selected countries in Europe. SCAD is exactly the kind of evidence-gathering mechanism policy makers need to utilize for two purposes:
- Verify the existence of state capture practices in given economic sectors and regulatory/enforcement institutions;
- Consider policy adjustments which close the opportunities for special interests to use the institutions of public governance for private ends.
SCAD is designed to measure state capture results/effects and the capture process itself, as the latter is most often hidden, secret, and inaccessible. It is a pioneering effort for the exposure of state capture through measurement. It is meant to aid European policy makers in tackling state capture issues in their drive to provide an instrument to safeguard rule of law principles and protect the Union’s financial interest, and to better inform enlargement progress-monitoring and decision-making.
