Corruption Perceptions Index

The year 2011, without a doubt, was the year of the protestor. The Arab Spring swept the Middle East, with oppressed peoples refusing to be denied their basic rights and freedoms any longer. In Russia, protestors filled the streets; indignant at the liberties United Russia was taking with their democratic system. In Burma, activist Aung San Suu Kyi was freed, as the government caved to international and internal pressures to replace the reigning military junta with a democracy. These examples are but a few of the forces for freedom and justice that challenged autocratic powers worldwide.

It was also a year of continuing economic turmoil. Greece and Italy both lost their heads of state over serious economic mismanagement, while Germany and France fought tooth and nail to hold the precarious Euro Zone together. America continued its external struggle to hold its position as the world’s policeman and sole power, while fending off increasingly skeptical internal forces on its ability to provide the necessary government services.

Fueling the protestors’ and economies’ actions were undoubtedly the perspectives held by the rural and urban citizenry alike on the levels of corruption that had penetrated or completely subverted their government institutions. Because of that, Transparency International –a global coalition against corruption – has perhaps never before played a bigger role. Since 1995 they have released their Corruption Perception Index, which charts these perceptions internationally.

One need only look at the Index for 2011 to realize how crucial perceptions are to a country’s stability and economic growth, and thus their susceptibility to protests and civil war. Countries are ranked on a scale from 1 – 10, with 10, colored in as yellow, representing uncorrupt or “clean” countries; and 1, or dark red, reserved for countries that are perceived as highly corrupt. All of the countries rocked by violent internal strife this year are, unsurprisingly, red and in the 1 – 3 range. Coming as no surprise too were the countries which topped the chart: New Zealand and Scandinavia all found themselves dominating the bright yellow 9 – 10 range.

While these findings could be expected given the level of uprisings internationally last year, the index proves itself to be interesting in other ways as well. The United States is almost 2 levels below Canada in terms of perceived corruption, as are Spain, Portugal and Great Britain. In these cases, it is important to reiterate that the index does not measure the levels of corruption in government, rather than the citizens’ perceptions of such. In short, it is a barometer of how skeptical people are from country to country, especially in the middle “orange” zone, of whether or not the government is truly working for them. In this manner, the index paves the way for all sorts of deductions on everything from differences in culture to the percentage of people who regularly pay their taxes.

Thus, the index can be considered a road map of sorts for the challenges the world will face in the future. The red countries will undoubtedly see overhauling social change, while the orange countries might see reforms too, such as those that come about from the Euro crisis. Tools such as the index will only grow in importance in the coming decades, serving purposes ranging from forming policy for states and institutions, to propelling ongoing peace processes and development. They will truly map the different roads countries can take towards success.