In backsliding democracies, when political elites prioritize their own fortunes over public welfare, roads collapse, hospitals run out of supplies, and education becomes a privilege instead of a right. Meanwhile, those in power tighten their grip by wearing down the courts, muzzling the press, and systematically rigging government bids to benefit themselves and their supporters.
Corruption does not just drain public money; it actively dismantles societies, leaving behind crumbling infrastructure, failing health care and social services, and predatory governments in a world where only the well-connected and ultrawealthy can afford a decent life. And with corruption consolidating their power, the ultrawealthy have outsize influence in shaping the direction of government. It is no coincidence that two of the most corrupt states in the developed world—Serbia and Hungary—are also the ones where democracies are in steepest decline.
The health of a democracy—its commitment to the rule of law—is directly connected to the quality of life its citizens experience. Empirical evidence from around the world underscores this reality. After the fall of communism, Eastern Europe saw the rise of a predatory oligarchy intent on consolidating public and private power. As governments rapidly privatized state assets, a small elite seized control of key industries and institutions, exploiting fragile legal systems and criminal connections to entrench their dominance. Over time, governance shifted from a social contract to a playground for the ultrawealthy, where dark money and insider deal-making supplanted accountability and the pursuit of the common good.
The same patterns of systemic corruption, democratic backsliding, and economic exploitation that have marred other parts of the world are now being perpetuated in the United States—driven by figures such as Elon Musk who are working to concentrate power and undermine democratic norms. Although the mechanisms may differ, the underlying logic remains the same: When government ceases to serve its citizens and instead becomes beholden to an ever-richer ruling class, drinking water becomes polluted, freeways fall apart, and tax revenue disappears—all while society grows poorer and democracy weakens.
Serbia: Corruption weakens the state
On November 1, 2024, the canopy of the newly renovated Novi Sad railway station in Serbia collapsed, resulting in 15 fatalities. The 55-million-euro renovation, awarded to a Chinese company as part of the Belgrade-Budapest high-speed rail project, was meant to symbolize progress. Instead, the reportedly shoddy construction and consequent disaster resulted in allegations of corruption at the center of President Aleksandar Vučić’s rule. Vučić, who personally inaugurated the station, now faces scrutiny not just for the failure of this project, but for presiding over a system in which bribes mar elections while essential services crumble.
This was more than a horrific accident. It was a stark reminder of Serbia’s descent into state capture, where wealthy insiders have been alleged to manipulate institutions, laws, and public bids to enrich themselves, allowing corruption and autocracy to thrive at the expense of competent government. Serbia’s decadeslong democratic backsliding has fueled this corruption, creating a cycle in which rigged contracts and stolen money are protected by a regime that silences dissent. In Serbia today, procurement serves as a powerful mechanism of political patronage, with infrastructure projects routinely awarded to firms tied to Vučić’s allies—often at significantly inflated prices.
Authorities are still investigating the collapse of the canopy, and a Chinese consortium of China Railway International Company Ltd. and China Communications Construction Company Ltd. that oversaw the station’s renovations maintains that the faulty construction was not part of its work. Yet this tragedy fits into a broader, troubling pattern: Companies entrusted with large public works in Serbia have routinely flouted safety standards; secured contracts despite poor track records; and, in some cases, paid inspectors to look away.
This is not an isolated case. In 2021, environmental protests erupted over the construction of a Chinese-run tire factory in Zrenjanin, Serbia, where local authorities bypassed standard procedures and failed to properly assess health risks. And on the Belgrade-Budapest high-speed rail project—a flagship of Chinese-Serbian infrastructure cooperation—observers have raised red flags about transparency, cost overruns, and noncompliance with EU environmental norms. These cases suggest a pattern of weak regulation and political favoritism, often at the expense of public safety and accountability.
This pattern extends far beyond infrastructure. The Belgrade Waterfront project, a joint venture between the Serbian government and a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based consortium, has been widely rebuked and accused of being a front for money laundering and real estate speculation. The project has enriched a handful of politically connected developers and displaced thousands of residents. In 2024, Jared Kushner’s investment firm, Affinity Partners, partnered with the UAE-based developer Eagle Hills—also involved in the Belgrade Waterfront project—to redevelop the bombed-out former Yugoslav Ministry of Defence headquarters into a luxury hotel and residential complex, reportedly including a Trump-branded hotel.
The Novi Sad disaster ignited a wave of protests across Serbia, culminating in one of the largest and most sustained antigovernment demonstrations in recent decades. On March 15, 2025, hundreds of thousands of people flooded Belgrade’s streets, not only to mourn the 15 lives lost but also to demand an end to the corruption and mismanagement that have hollowed out Serbia’s public infrastructure, services, and utilities. Opaque procurement practices have also undermined the health care sector, leaving hospitals short on essential medicines while government-linked middlemen receive significant profit from overbilled contracts.
What began as outrage over a single disaster morphed into a broader movement against Vučić’s tightening hold on power, which is increasingly dependent on Moscow and Beijing. At the forefront of the protests, students and rural farmers blocked roads and held silent vigils, demanding accountability in a system where civil society and the political opposition has been functionally rendered all but defunct. Their anthem: “There is no going back to the old ways.”
In January 2025, Vučić’s government offered the resignation of Serbian Prime Minister Miloš Vučević in attempt to defuse the protests without addressing the accusations of corruption. But demonstrations have persisted. Serbia is no longer a country with a corruption problem but a state where many Serbians believe that corruption is the “system,” where public coffers are open to private interests and those in power trade basic services for favors.
Hungary: Corruption and embezzlement of EU funds
Under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, systemic misuse of European Union funds has transformed Hungary into a kleptocracy—one where oligarchs with close government ties amass vast amounts of wealth while ordinary citizens bear the brunt of corruption through rapidly declining living standards.
Transparency International consistently ranks Hungary among the most corrupt EU member states. Hungarian authorities regularly funnel resources such as critical EU development funds to Orbán’s inner circle. The European Anti-Fraud Office has repeatedly investigated projects tied to Orbán’s allies, including a utility company owned by his son-in-law that secured inflated contracts with virtually no bidding. Another case involves the so-called “stadium mania,” where small towns—including Orbán’s own village—received funding for the construction of oversized sports stadiums that often sit empty. These vanity schemes serve little public purpose and instead channel EU money directly into the hands of politically connected contractors.
Corruption is not just blatant economic theft; it is a direct tool of authoritarian state capture.
The Hungarian people, once the beneficiary of the most dynamic economy in the Eastern bloc, are now the second poorest in the EU as measured by individual consumption. Universities lack critical resources, yet education funds are siphoned into opaque foundations controlled by government allies. None of this happened accidently. Corruption is not just blatant economic theft; it is a direct tool of authoritarian state capture. The Orbán government systematically weakens the judiciary, ensuring no legal repercussions for its schemes. In addition, it suppresses media freedom to prevent investigative journalists from exposing graft, with major news outlets either shut down or taken over by pro-government business interests—leaving citizens with few reliable sources of information. Finally, it rigs procurement bids so that businesses outside the ruling party’s direct orbit stand little chance of winning lucrative government contracts. This is how strongman rule and state corruption reinforce each other: by turning institutions meant to serve the public good into instruments of personal and political gain.
Building the structure for autocracy in the United States
In Serbia and Hungary, crony capitalism and state capture have transformed governance into a transactional enterprise, where political loyalty—not need—determines the allocation of funds. These regimes deliberately built the edifice for corruption by weakening independent institutions, consolidating media ownership, and hollowing out judicial oversight for the benefit of party insiders. This scaffolding is about personal enrichment and serves to shield those in power from scrutiny. Left unchecked, it locks in cycles of patronage and repression.
The United States’ erosion of democratic norms increasingly mirrors the playbook of emerging autocracies in Central and Eastern Europe. In his second term, Trump has turned the government into a vehicle for potential personal gain—hollowing out public institutions and consolidating power through relentless assaults on the rule of law. The Trump administration has purged inspectors general across agencies, enabling unchecked fraud. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) canceled its current contract with Verizon in March 2025, opening the door for federal funds to reportedly shift billions of dollars to politically connected firms such as Elon Musk’s Starlink. All this is happening while essential services from health care to education are on the docket for funding cuts. President Trump has politicized the U.S. Department of Justice, turning law enforcement into a tool of retribution. Even the legal profession is under siege, as Trump has banned government agencies from working with firms that represent his adversaries. Like in Serbia and Hungary, these moves are not isolated abuses—they are the foundation of a corrupt authoritarian system that is designed to funnel power and wealth away from everyday Americans.
These moves are not isolated abuses—they are the foundation of a corrupt authoritarian system that is designed to funnel power and wealth away from everyday Americans.
The billionaire class makes up an American oligarchy similar in form and function to the networks orbiting Orbán and Vučić. Nowhere is this clearer than in Elon Musk’s personal ventures. His companies—most notably SpaceX—have previously secured billions of dollars in federal contracts, raising serious concerns about conflicts of interest. As head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk has imposed budget cuts and mass firings of federal employees, gutting critical public services under the guise of “efficiency.” It is no coincidence that one of Viktor Orbán’s first acts upon assuming power was to purge the Hungarian civil service.
The United States is grappling with infrastructure failures similar to those seen in corruption-ridden states: Airplane disasters unfold as an underfunded and understaffed FAA struggles to maintain the most basic oversight. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration faces funding cuts even as climate disasters accelerate. These are not random acts of nature—they are serious issues compounded by the coordinated regulatory capture and cynical disinvestment of public goods.
Like Orbán’s and Vučić’s associates, America’s billionaire class is not just a symptom of a broken system; it is the architect of the system’s decline.
The role of public accountability in fighting corruption
Corruption and state capture thrive when citizens feel powerless, but history shows that mass mobilization can force change. The protests in Serbia and Hungary are not just reactions to individual scandals; they are revolts against entire systems built on fraud and exploitation.
In Hungary, the rise of opposition figure Péter Magyar has galvanized public resistance to Orbán’s corruption, drawing hundreds of thousands of people to the streets in defiance of predatory state capture. In Serbia, the Novi Sad railway station collapse became a flash point, but the anger fueling the demonstrations has been years in the making, driven by the steady erosion of public services and democratic freedoms under the government of Alexander Vučić.
The United States, too, has seen moments of public reckoning. Across the country Americans are demanding answers from their representatives in increasingly boisterous town halls. Their anger speaks to the moment. However, outrage alone is not enough. To prevent the United States from following the trajectory of Hungary or Serbia, institutional reforms are necessary. This means closing the loopholes that allow dark money to dominate politics; strengthening anti-corruption laws, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, to ensure greater transparency and accountability in financial dealings; and restoring faith in critical public services from food and drug safety to environmental protection.
Conclusion
The experiences of Serbia and Hungary offer a stark warning: Corruption directly harms people’s lives by breeding inefficiency and injustice. When elites capture state institutions, public money meant for schools, hospitals, and housing disappears into private hands. The courts stop protecting ordinary citizens; the press no longer speaks truth to power; and as a result, families struggle to access basic services, workers face worsening conditions, and young people lose hope for a fair future. The United States is not immune. Without vigilance, the erosion of accountability, growing inequality, and crumbling infrastructure will hit the most vulnerable communities hardest. Fighting corruption is not just about prosecuting bad actors—it is about making sure government works for everyone, not just the privileged few. That requires strong institutions, a free press, and a public that refuses to accept democratic decay as inevitable.