Review of anti-corruption strategies Rob McCusker - Australian ...

Transparency International’s Global corruption barometer 2005 leaves little room to doubt the wide
ranging influence of corruption within and upon a number of sectors and institutions. A questionnaire
sought opinions from some 55,000 people in 69 low, middle and high income countries on a number
of issues relating to the prevalence and impact of corruption including their assessment of the levels of
corruption within a number of sectors and institutions (Figure 2). Political parties were perceived as the
most corrupt, followed by parliament/legislature, police, and legal system/judiciary.
Figure 2: Global corruption barometer
Source: Adapted from Transparency International 2005
The definition of corruption and an appreciation of its nature and extent are crucial to understanding
whether and if so, how, an anti-corruption strategy might be formulated, implemented and assessed. An
important starting point is to address two key questions:
•
•
what types of corruption are the most damaging and in which institutions or countries?
what are the relationships between corruption and poverty and how can a state reduce corruption?
Within those two framing questions, three broad levels of assessment should occur:
•
•
Political parties
Parliament/legislature
Police
Legal system/judiciary
Business/private sector
Tax revenue
Customs
Media
Medical services
Utilities
Education system
Military
Registry and permit services
NGOs
Religious bodies
1 2 3 4 5
causes and impact of corruption – for example, how far the causes of corruption are influenced by
geographical, political, economic and cultural factors, and by the relationships between political and
administrative processes, and between public and private sector
the political, economic, institutional and social environment – for example, whether the corruption is
country or institution specific and whether different political, administrative and economic
configurations give rise to differing levels or types of corruption and thus to differing impacts on
different groups in society
2.6
2.8
2.9
2.9
3.0
3.0
3.2
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
4.0
Key
1 = not at all corrupt
5 = extremely corrupt