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This is the World Bank's blog on governance and anti-corruption. It aims at providing a space for debate and knowledge sharing on this critical field of development. | Learn more...

Global Integrity

Global Integrity's Grand Corruption Watch List and economic stimulus packages

Submitted by Nathaniel Heller on Fri, 2009-02-27 17:31

As Dani Kaufmann and others on this blog have rightly pointed out, the issues of “grand corruption” and “state capture” are increasingly being viewed as central to promoting more accountable and transparent governments, whether in the developing world or in wealthier countries.  The West has little to show to the developing world by way of successful models, and all countries clearly have plenty of homework to do when it comes to curbing the influence of special interests on the policy process.

In the Global Integrity Report: 2008, we created our first ever Grand Corruption Watch List. This list identifies 13 countries with exceptionally weak anti-corruption safeguards in key areas that lead us to worry about the potential for large-scale theft of public resources.  As national bailout programs and stimulus packages are being rolled out worldwide, these are the countries to keep a close eye on for disappearing funds at the highest levels of government.

Global Integrity Index: looking around the black box of corruption

Submitted by Alfredo on Fri, 2009-02-20 15:40

A couple of days ago, Global Integrity launched its Global Integrity Index 2008, which assesses whether or not key national anti-corruption mechanisms are set in place, work properly and are accessible to citizens to hold governments accountable. 

Different from other governance measurements, this index and the scorecard doesn't try looking into the black box of corruption or the perceptions about it.  Instead, the approach is to look at the inputs and outputs coming in and out of the box, trying to show the difference between de jure and de facto institutional realities of countries and how political economy dynamics within them matter.

The dilemmas of measuring corruption: is there an agreement of where should we move on?

Submitted by Alfredo on Thu, 2008-09-25 16:00

As corruption issues around the world seem to be endless, so is the debate about the best way to develop and use corruption indicators.  Whether aggregate or disaggregated; whether actionable or not; whether perception-based or experience-based; whether they should measure inputs or outputs; and whether assessments should be locally-owned or conducted by international institutions are just part of the on-going discussions in open forums and informal chats.

This month we witnessed the publication of two valuable efforts that move towards different directions on corruption measurement: (i) the 2008 Corruption Perception Index launched this week by Transparency International; and (ii) “A Users’ Guide to Measuring Corruption,” published at the beginning of this month by the UNDP Oslo Governance Centre and Global Integrity. 

While Transparency International’s approach relies on composite, cross-country and perception-based indicators, the User’s Guide suggests –among other things– the need for more locally owned assessments that capture the voice and experience of the poor and minority groups, as well as actionable measurements that give a better sense of what needs to be reformed.