China, Turkey drop in corruption index

[Syt]

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/03/world/asia/china-transparency-international-corruption-2014/?hpt=wo_c2

China slips down corruption perception index, despite high-profile crackdown

Hong Kong (CNN) -- Despite a highly-publicized anti-corruption drive spearheaded by President Xi Jinping, China's position on an international corruption perceptions index has deteriorated in the past 12 months.

Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index 2014 ranks countries based on a 100-point "corruption perception" scale, where zero equals a "highly corrupt" perception and 100 means the country is perceived to be very clean.

In the report, released Wednesday, China scored 36, falling to 100th place from 80th last year, putting it on a par with Algeria and Suriname.

North Korea and Somalia rank equal-worst of 174 countries with a score of just eight. Denmark and New Zealand ranked least corrupt, with scores of 92 and 91, respectively.

The Corruption Perceptions Index highlights the problems that emerging economies have with public sector corruption, misappropriation of funds and bribery, said Jose Ugaz, the chair of Transparency International, in a press release. It's based on perceptions of public sector corruption, from the perspective of business people and country experts.

"The Transparency International report is inconsistent with China's well-known achievements in the anticorruption campaign," Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Hua Chunying told CNN. "The public will judge the achievement that the government has obtained and it will not be affected by the index.

"Corruption is the disease of human society which harms the justice and development of the entire society. It has to be eliminated."

Anti-corruption drive

Xi's much-vaunted drive against the "tigers" -- high-ranking public officials -- and "flies" -- lowly apparatchiks -- has been touted as a "life or death" priority for the leader, who announced the initiative shortly after taking office in 2012.

Since then, Chinese state media says 75,000 cadres have been found in breach of austerity measures, as of the end of August.

Recently, the anti-corruption drive was extended to China's military, with particular emphasis on projects and medical and weapons procurement, China Daily reported.

In the past, Xi has said that corruption could lead to "the collapse of the Party and the downfall of the state."

Despite his warnings, and attempts to address the issue, the report finds that perceptions of public sector corruption in China are worsening.

Rukshana Nanayakkara, Regional Outreach Manager for the Asia-Pacific Region, Transparency International, says that Beijing's approach is misguided.

"China's fight against corruption focuses on prosecution, a very top-down way of fighting corruption," he told CNN. "The whole campaign of catching 'tigers' and 'flies,' and from this summer the 'foxhunt' (the worldwide operation to track down fugitive officials) they all talk about prosecution, punishing people.

"In many other parts of the world it is a more holistic approach, you need to talk about prevention as well. So, irrespective of the fact that China is trying to punish corrupt officials, it is still thrives. So this is a very strong message to China."

China's drop from 40 points to 36 from in the index was one of the "biggest falls" of 2014, Transparency said. Other countries whose rankings dropped were Turkey, which dropped five points, and Angola, Malawi and Rwanda, which all dropped four.

Economic growth suffers

Transparency International says the extent of corruption within countries has an impact on their own economic growth, and there's a risk of problems being exported with trade and investment.

"The 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index shows that economic growth is undermined and efforts to stop corruption fade when leaders and high level officials abuse power to appropriate public funds for personal gain," Ugaz said in a statement.

"Corrupt officials smuggle ill-gotten assets into safe havens through offshore companies with absolute impunity.

"Countries at the bottom need to adopt radical anti-corruption measures in favor of their people. Countries at the top of the index should make sure they don't export corrupt practices to underdeveloped countries," Ugaz added.

Top countries and mark out of 100

1. Denmark (92)

2. New Zealand (91)

3. Finland (89)

4. Sweden (87)

5. Norway (86)

5. Switzerland (86)

7. Singapore (84)

8. Netherlands (83)

9. Luxembourg (82)

10. Canada (81)

Bottom countries and mark out of 100

174. Somalia (8)

174. North Korea (8)

173. Sudan (11)

172. Afghanistan (12)

171. South Sudan (15)

170. Iraq (16)

169. Turkmenistan (17)

166. Uzbekistan (18)

166. Eritrea (18)

161. Yemen (19)

[Norgy]

Let's open a business in Yemen, and export to South Sudan.

[Martinus]

I can't believe China and Turkey are corrupt.

[The Brain]

I'm shocked that Norway is corrupt.

[The Minsky Moment]

Meaningless w/o explanation of how index was calculated and what accounted for the change in the China score.

[Syt]

Meaningless w/o explanation of how index was calculated and what accounted for the change in the China score.

http://www.transparency.org/cpi2014/in_detail

1. WHAT IS THE CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX (CPI)?

The CPI scores and ranks countries/territories based on how corrupt a country's public sector is perceived to be. It is a composite index, a combination of surveys and assessments of corruption, collected by a variety of reputable institutions. The CPI is the most widely used indicator of corruption worldwide.

top


2. WHY IS THE CPI BASED ON PERCEPTIONS?

Corruption generally comprises illegal activities, which are deliberately hidden and only come to light through scandals, investigations or prosecutions. There is no meaningful way to assess absolute levels of corruption in countries or territories on the basis of hard empirical data. Possible attempts to do so, such as by comparing bribes reported, the number of prosecutions brought or studying court cases directly linked to corruption, cannot be taken as definitive indicators of corruption levels. Instead, they show how effective prosecutors, the courts or the media are in investigating and exposing corruption. Capturing perceptions of corruption of those in a position to offer assessments of public sector corruption is the most reliable method of comparing relative corruption levels across countries.

top


3. WHICH COUNTRIES/TERRITORIES ARE INCLUDED IN THE CPI 2014 AND WHY?

For a country/territory to be included in the ranking, it must be included in a minimum of three of the CPI's data sources. If a country is not featured in the ranking, then this is solely because of insufficient survey information and not an indication that corruption does not exist in the country. This year 175 countries and territories are included in the index. In 2013, it was 177. Comparing to 2013 CPI, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea and Saint Lucia are not included in the 2014 CPI. Samoa is included in 2014 CPI but was not included in 2013 CPI.

top


4. WHAT ARE THE DATA SOURCES FOR THE CPI?

The 2014 CPI draws on data sources from independent institutions specialising in governance and business climate analysis. The sources of information used for the 2014 CPI are based on data gathered in the past 24 months. The CPI includes only sources that provide a score for a set of countries/territories and that measure perceptions of corruption in the public sector. Transparency International reviews the methodology of each data source in detail to ensure that the sources used meet Transparency International's quality standards. For a full list of the data sources, the type of respondents and the specific questions they ask, please see the CPI sources description document.

top


5. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A COUNTRY/TERRITORY'S RANK AND ITS SCORE?

A country/territory's score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0-100, where 0 means that a country is perceived as highly corrupt and a 100 means that a country is perceived as very clean. A country's rank indicates its position relative to the other countries/territories included in the index. Ranks can change merely if the number of countries included in the index changes.

top


6. IS THE COUNTRY/TERRITORY WITH THE LOWEST SCORE THE WORLD'S MOST CORRUPT NATION?

No. The CPI is an indicator of perceptions of public sector corruption, i.e. administrative and political corruption. It is not a verdict on the levels of corruption of entire nations or societies, or of their policies, or the activities of their private sector. Citizens of those countries/territories that score at the lower end of the CPI often show the same concern about and condemnation of corruption as the public in countries that perform strongly.

Further, the country/territory with the lowest score is the one where public sector corruption is perceived to be greatest among those included in the list. The CPI provides no information about countries/territories that are not included in the index.

top


7. CAN THE SCORE OF A COUNTRY IN THE 2014 CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX BE COMPARED WITH THE PREVIOUS YEAR?

Yes. As part of the update to the methodology used to calculate the CPI in 2012 we established the new scale of 0-100. Using this scale we can compare CPI scores from one year to the next. Because of the update in the methodology, however, CPI scores before 2012 are not comparable over time.

For a more detailed description of the 2012 change in methodology, please see Corruption Perceptions Index – An updated Methodology for 2012.

top


8. WHICH COUNTRIES HAVE IMPROVED/DECLINED ON THE CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX THIS YEAR?

The biggest improvers this year are Afghanistan, Côte d´Ivoire, Egypt, Jordan, Mali, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Swaziland. The biggest decliners are Angola, China, Malawi, Rwanda, and Turkey.

top


9. DOES THE CPI TELL THE FULL STORY OF CORRUPTION IN A COUNTRY?

No. The CPI is limited in scope, capturing perceptions of the extent of corruption in the public sector, from the perspective of business people and country experts. Complementing this viewpoint and capturing different aspects of corruption, Transparency International produces a range of both qualitative and quantitative research on corruption, both at the global level from its Secretariat and at the national level through Transparency International's network of National Chapters based in over 90 countries around the world.

Complementing the CPI, Transparency International's other global research products include:

Global Corruption Barometer (GCB): Measuring people's perceptions and experiences of corruption, the Global Corruption Barometer is a representative survey of more than 114,000 households in 107 countries. The most recent Global Corruption Barometer results (2013) can be found here.
Bribe Payers Index (BPI): Measuring the supply side of corruption in international business transaction, the Bribe Payers Index is a ranking of leading exporting countries according to the perceived likelihood of their firms to bribe abroad. It is based on a survey of business executives capturing perceptions of the business practices of foreign firms in their country. The most recent Bribe Payers Index can be found here.
Global Corruption Report (GCR): Exploring corruption issues in detail for a specific issue or sector, the Global Corruption Report is a thematic report which draws on a variety of expert research and analysis as well as case studies. The series of Global Corruption Reports, covering issues from the judiciary to education, can be found here.
National Integrity System assessments (NIS): A series of in-country studies providing an extensive qualitative assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the key institutions that enable good governance and prevent corruption in a country. For more information on the National Integrity System reports, please click here.
Transparency In Corporate Reporting: The study analyses the extent of transparency in the reporting on a series of anti-corruption measures by the world's largest companies. For further information, please click here.

[The Minsky Moment]

SO then you have to look at the underlying sources and see what moved, which we don't have.

And at the end of the day what you really have is a fancified summary of gossip.

[Syt]

How would you measure corruption?

EDIT: This assessment looks at the methodology used since 2012: http://files.transparency.org/content/download/534/2217/file/JRC_Statistical_Assessment_CPI2012_FINAL.pdf

[Josquius]

Turkey? That country whose sul...president just built himself a new palace? Corrupt? Well I never.

I am surprised China has managed to become more corrupt however.

[MadImmortalMan]

Minsky must represent somebody on the list with a low ranking.

[Savonarola]

Minsky must represent somebody on the list with a low ranking.

He's the Atticus Finch of Uzbekistan.

[celedhring]

So "secret tax deals" Luxembourg isn't corrupt? "Bribes'r'us" Qatar is rated better than half of Western Europe? Yeah...

[CountDeMoney]

Minsky must represent somebody on the list with a low ranking.

He's the Atticus Finch of Uzbekistan.

You mean Wall Street.

[The Minsky Moment]

How would you measure corruption?

EDIT: This assessment looks at the methodology used since 2012: http://files.transparency.org/content/download/534/2217/file/JRC_Statistical_Assessment_CPI2012_FINAL.pdf

That tells you how they combine the source indexes.  It doesn't say how the source indexes themselves are derived.

Let's take an example.
One of the sources is the WJP Rule of Law Index
WJP does look at 86 variables relating to corruption in the legislature, executive branch and judiciary of each country.  But that is only one piece of the index - other parts of the index is constructed of institutional characteristics like constitutional structure, or whether there is a bill of rights.   So what is measured is not necessarily corruption per se but also conformance to certain norms of governance that are believed to have salutary effects on controlling corruption.

So to say China slipped in the rankings doesn't necessarily mean there is more corruption in China,.  It could be China has simply regressed on certain institutional measures of democratic control or protection of certain individual rights.

Take an extreme hypothetical example - imagine a dictator who used absolute unchecked power to ruthlessly stamp out all corruption, using a la Ideologue a technological system of total surveillance along with immediate and brutal punishment of delicts.  Actual corruption would sink to near zero but such a state would probably get crappy graded on the WJP Rule of Law index.

[Sheilbh]

A selection of countries above Greece and Italy: Namibia, Cuba, Turkey, Ghana, Hungary