Corruption poll 2010

[OneFootInTheGrave]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11954667

a few suprises for me:

50%+ India in the worst group togher with Afghanistan and Iraq
30-50% Lithuania in the second worst - together with Mexico (suprise too)
20-30% - Russia (not so much) but, Romania, Turkey
6-20% - Austria?!? France as well... for Italy I am not suprised though
less than 6% - well Georgia is a suprise there, given that their neighbours are all significantly worse

Wander why was 6% used as the threshold, perhaps US or UK were 5.5%, so it would not look good if they were not in the lowest corruption group

[DaShi]

China is lower than expected. This may be because of the wording of the survey. Many Chinese don't consider such payments as actual bribes because they are so common and necessary to get things done.

[DaShi]

Wander why was 6% used as the threshold, perhaps US or UK were 5.5%, so it would not look good if they were not in the lowest corruption group

Wonder.

Given the way they had divided the others, it would seem that the final threshold would be <10% rather than <6% or <5.5%.

[Wezil]

I don't think Canadians are trying hard enough.

[germanos]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11954667

a few suprises for me:

50%+ India in the worst group togher with Afghanistan and Iraq

People are encouraged to hand over this note when dealing with officials


(see f.e. http://www.impactlab.net/2010/02/03/...sued-in-india/)

[Provost Harrison]

And then get beaten to a pulp by the corrupt police officer who is not amused...

[Provost Harrison]

And in China there is no corruption, just "making contributions to the workers' party".

[Dauphin]

Can someone define bribery for me. And distinguish it from "hospitality".

[Al B. Sure!]

What the heck is Lithuania doing in the same category as all those countries? That's pretty unexpected.

[Provost Harrison]

Yeah, what is the US doing in the same category as all those others too?

[Jon Miller]

The only people who deal with bribes/etc are politicians or people who deal with politicians..

JM

[Hauldren Collider]

Most bribes in the US are legal, and they're called campaign contributions. Corruption at the state level varies dramatically by state, with Illinois being among the worst if not the worst. Corruption in the police and bureaucracy is fairly rare especially compared to the rest of the world.

[Riesstiu IV]

And then get beaten to a pulp by the corrupt police officer who is not amused...

Police in India are a joke. Most street cops are rotund little dudes in ill fitting beige uniforms and all they carry are batons. If you have the capacity to beat down a five year old then you don't even have to bribe them.

[DaShi]

Most bribes in the US are legal, and they're called campaign contributions. Corruption at the state level varies dramatically by state, with Illinois being among the worst if not the worst. Corruption in the police and bureaucracy is fairly rare especially compared to the rest of the world.

Really? Maybe you have sources I haven't seen.

North Dakota tops analysis of corruption

WASHINGTON — Its largest city is legendary for machine-style politics and its elected leaders have been under investigation for years, but by one measure, Illinois is not even close to the nation's most-corrupt state.
North Dakota, it turns out, may hold that distinction instead.

Federal authorities arrested Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich Tuesday after a wiretap allegedly recorded him scheming to make money on his appointment to fill the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Barack Obama. Blagojevich, a Democrat, ran for election in part on cleaning up after his predecessor, Republican George Ryan, who was convicted in 2006 of racketeering, bribery and extortion.

IN ILLINOIS: Obama 'appalled and disappointed' by Blagojevich arrest
"If it isn't the most corrupt state in the United States it's certainly one hell of a competitor," Robert Grant, head of the FBI's Chicago office, said Tuesday.

On a per-capita basis, however, Illinois ranks 18th for the number of public corruption convictions the federal government has won from 1998 through 2007, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Department of Justice statistics.

BLAGOJEVICH SCANDAL: News is a recycled blot on Chicagoans' pride
Louisiana, Alaska and North Dakota all fared worse than the Land of Lincoln in that analysis.

Alaska narrowly ousted Republican Sen. Ted Stevens in the election in November after he was convicted of not reporting gifts from wealthy friends. In Louisiana, Democratic Rep. William Jefferson was indicted in 2007 on racketeering and bribery charges after the FBI said it found $90,000 in marked bills in his freezer. Jefferson, who has maintained his innocence and will soon go to trial, lost his seat to a Republican this year.

But North Dakota?

Don Morrison, executive director of the non-partisan North Dakota Center for the Public Good, said it may be that North Dakotans are better at rooting out corruption when it occurs.

"Being a sparsely populated state, people know each other," he said. "We know our elected officials and so certainly to do what the governor of Illinois did is much more difficult here."

Morrison said the state has encouraged bad government practices in some cases by weakening disclosure laws. North Dakota does not require legislative or statewide candidates to disclose their campaign expenses.

The analysis does not include corruption cases handled by state law enforcement and it considers only convictions. Corruption may run more rampant in some states but go undetected.

Michael Johnston is a political science professor at Colgate University in New York — which is ranked just after Illinois for corruption convictions. Johnston, who has studied political corruption for 30 years, said places such as Illinois gain a bad reputation that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

"Expectations build up … and you replicate those expectations when you get to the top of the ladder," Johnston said. "It gets repeated."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-12-10-corruptstates_N.htm

[-Jrabbit]

Lots of countries not listed.
Finland is, but Norway and Sweden are not.
South Korea listed, North Korea not.

Yet the Solomon Islands get a shout-out???

Presumably there's a complete list in the report, but I can't be bothered to check.