Alternate links: Google News | Twitter

As corrosive as the corruption is the impunity with which the corruption is committed. Impunity " the expectation of unaccountability " is not only a stance. It is a tactic. It breeds cynicism, and popular cynicism is a necessary ingredient of autocracy and kleptocracy.

The autocrat does not just flout the law; he renders it so fungible that as social or moral framework, it becomes meaningless. There is no use trying to stay on the right side of the law when you don't know from day to day which side is right.

The autocrat does not just defy the popular will; he dismisses it.