What is corruption? Why it occurs? Corruption occurs because it is human nature to take the easy way out and to gain personal benefit from whatever means possible. Both “nature” (Biological) and “nurture” (psychological) factors have a part in corruption.
Corruption occurs because of self-interest. For example, when the United States of America invaded Iraq or Afghanistan, the fact that the United States had an interest in obtaining the oil from those countries may have influenced their decision, because those countries have oil and the United States of America needs it. Maybe those countries were invaded for noble causes or perhaps it is an example of corruption.
It’s clear that corrupt activities by individuals and governments, to the tune of trillions per year, have a huge impact on the world economy. Transparency International’s 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) does the next best thing by ranking countries and territories based on how corrupt their administrative and political institutions are perceived to be on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) and a 100 (very clean).
Here is the list containing top 10 Most Corrupt Countries in the world, ranked by Transparency International.
10. Haiti
Haiti ranks 165 out of 174 countries and earned a score
of 19 out of 100.
Haiti was struck by a massive earthquake in 2010,
but the 2 billion dollars that came into Haiti as funds for the people inflicted
by the earthquake was consumed by the rampant corruption practiced by the
bureaucracy. The 2011 Human Rights Report by the U.S. State Department found
that corruption “remained widespread in all branches and at all levels of
government” even after Haiti elected a new president in 2011. “In this country
everything is money,” Chairman of the Port-au-Prince Bar Association Stanley
Gaston said. “There isn’t value in any other thing.
9. Venezuela
Venezuela ranks 165 out of 174 countries and earned a
score of 19 out of 100.
The discovery of mass amounts of oil in
Venezuela hastened its slide into corruption and by the 1970s the petroleum
sucked from the ground was called “the Devil’s excrement” by Venezuelans. Hugo
Chavez came by in 1999 promising to remove corruption but did nothing to even
slow it down as his movement was accused of the same ills as the movement before
him; ills such as political patronage, cronyism, and of course, corruption. In
Venezuela, even the police, the department appointed to protect the law, are
notorious for their corruption and bribery.
8. Iraq
Iraq ranks 169 out of 174 countries and earned a score
of 18 out of 100.
During the Saddam regime, the corruption was so
rampant that anyone that so much as lifted a finger against the government was
immediately captured and brutally murdered. “Millions of dollars are being
stolen, and some of this money is going to terrorist groups,” a former political
exile told the BBC in 2009. “The government cannot win the war against the
insurgency if it does not fight corruption first. And the war against corruption
is much harder to win.”
7. Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan ranks 170 out of 174 countries and earned
a score of 17 out of 100.
Turkmenistan spent 69 years under the
Soviet Union and their time with the Soviets has left its effects on the
government. The country declared independence in 1991, the totalitarian rule of
the Soviets left its imprint and has led to a totalitarian control by the
government of Turkmenistan. The people suffer intense human rights violations
and face severe restrictions whenever they try leaving the country. It has the
world’s third worst freedom of the press, and is the tenth most censored country
in the world.
6. Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan ranks 170 out of 174 countries and earned a
score of 17 out of 100.
Uzbekistan is a country rich in resources,
but the government does not allow for growth in the independent private sector
as they keep control over all the resources. The government, infamous for its
authoritarianism, is often called the root of all the corruption and the
problems that arise as a result.
5. Myanmar
Myanmar ranks 172 out of 182 countries and earned a
score of 15 out of 100.
Myanmar is rich in natural resources such as
oil, timber and gems, a blessing that is more of a curse in this country riddled
with drug rings and widespread corruption. After emerging from five decades of
military rule in March 2011, Burma (Myanmar) drafted an anti-corruption law,
state officials were told to repay embezzled funds and citizens were told to
report bribery and corruption. But the country’s rich natural resources such as
oil, timber and gems are still controlled by former military-regime
insiders.
4. Sudan
Sudan ranks 173 out of 174 countries and earned a score
of 13 out of 100.
South Sudan produces half a million barrels per
day, and the $10 billion in oil revenues collected since 2005 has funded nearly
98 percent of the government’s budget. But it has lost more than $4 billion due
to public sector corruption since gaining self-rule in ’05.
3. Afghanistan
Afghanistan
ranks 174 out of 174 countries and earned a score of 8 out of 10.
Afghanistan
is a state riddled with the the corruption of bribery. Bribery and the menace of
kickbacks are so commonplace in Afghanistan that 38 percent of the people
consider it to be normal.
2. Korea (North)
North Korea ranks 174 out of 174 countries and earned a
score of 8 out of 100.
There is little foreign investment in North
Korea, and the country is plagued by structural corruption in its political and
bureaucratic system since the early 1990s when the Stalinist North Korea
collapsed. There is little that is known about North Korea, as once you’re in,
you either get captured or find worse fates, or you pay huge bribes to escape,
and the testimonies that shed any light on the conditions in North Korea are
from the refugees who either paid bribes to escapes or snuck out some other
dangerous way.
1. Somalia
Somalia ranks 174 out of 174 countries and earned a
score of 8 out of 100.
According to Transparency International’s
annual Corruption Perceptions Index, Somalia is the world’s most corrupt
country, highlighting the convergence of conflict and corruption. The corruption
and violence was sparked when the US and the USSR used Somalia as a battleground
for the political ideologies and backed clans and militias into fighting for
their respective sides. Funding from the US really kicked off the particular
Siad Barre regime which took corruption to a whole new level. Since the oust of
the regime in 1991, Somalia has been essentially lawless and has no government
except for parts being governed and fought over by different clans and militias
and the coastal areas are riddled by pirates.