Taking Stock of Corruption in the U.S. and Worldwide: TI’s Corruption Perceptions Index

Each year at this time—timed purposefully to coincide with International Anti-Corruption Day—Transparency International publishes its annual global ranking of the world’s countries based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be, the Corruption Perceptions Index.  Transparency International’s work to standardize cross-country corruption indicators such as the CPI was recognized recently in this blog as part of the “Rule of Law Measurement Revolution.”

The U.S. chapter of Transparency International, Transparency International-USA, hosted the launch of the Corruption Perceptions Index 2012 in Washington, D.C.  The findings show that governments need to do much more to be accountable to their citizens.  Many governments fail to protect those within their borders from abuse of public resources, tolerance of corruption by public officials, and secretive decision-making.  As Huguette Labelle, Chair of Transparency International, said in remarks at the CPI 2012 launch, “Governments need to integrate anti-corruption actions into all public decision-making.”

CPI 2012:  The results

The index scores 176 countries and territories from O (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean) based on perceived levels of public sector corruption.  It uses data from 13 international surveys that look at factors such as accountability of national and local governments, effective enforcement of anti-corruption laws, access to government information and abuse of government ethics and conflict of interest rules.  Denmark, Finland and New Zealand top the rankings.  Significantly, almost 70% of ranked countries score less than 50 with Sudan, Afghanistan and North Korea tied for last.

Results for the United States

The United States ranks 19^th in this year’s CPI, lower than many of its partners in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).  The U. S. ranking confirms that Americans believe there are continued transparency and corruption issues in local, state and national government institutions and processes.  Numerous articles and editorials during the recent U.S. elections attest to American concern regarding opaque campaign financing and a political culture driven by special interest groups.

While the United States has a commendable record of enforcing its anti-bribery laws, greater efforts must be made to increase transparency and accountability in U.S. governance.  This includes strengthening the ability of prosecutors to pursue undisclosed conflicts of interest by government officials.  TI-USA is also working toward stronger enforcement by other countries of their anti-bribery laws, enhanced anti-corruption practices by business, greater ability of civil society to monitor government procurements, and effective anti-corruption safeguards in international assistance.

Government officials, business leaders, academics, civil society activists, citizens—all of us—have much to do to combat the scourge of corruption and build cultures of transparency and accountability across all levels of societies, both in the U.S. and internationally.  A commitment to doing so is an appropriate and needed action on International Anti-Corruption Day or any day when we consider the grave consequences of corruption.