Mafia-State
Analytical Theses
The three core analytical theses of the Kleptopedia knowledge base: internal transformation into a mafia-state, international criminal linkages, and systematic authoritarian patronage. Source-backed, with explicit limitations.
Glossary
Controlled vocabulary for the Kleptopedia knowledge base. Working definitions of kleptocracy, mafia state, Uber Krysha, siloviki, black cash and related analytical terms.
Mafia State / Criminocracy
Working definition of mafia state / criminocracy: a polity in which boundaries between state institutions, security services and organised crime are systematically blurred.
Mafia-State Models
How secondary literature uses ‘mafia state’ and ‘criminocracy’: blurred boundaries between state, security services and organised crime; criminal methods as tools of governance — and explicit limits of the claim.
Thesis 1: Internal Transformation
Analytical thesis: Russia as kleptocracy / mafia-state under an Uber Krysha arrangement. Formal institutions serve rent extraction; boundaries between state, security services and selected criminal networks are blurred.
What is a “Mafia State” or “Criminocracy”?
Short answer: an analytical label for a polity where boundaries between state, security services and organised crime are systematically blurred, and criminal methods become tools of governance. Limits of the claim.
Overview
Structured, source-linked knowledge base on Russian kleptocracy, state–crime symbiosis, hybrid statecraft and authoritarian patronage. Seven categories, three analytical theses, full citability.