Transparency International

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Unbalanced scales.svg
 The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (May 2013)
Transparency International (TI)

Headquarters in Berlin (5th floor).
Formation 1993 (1993)
Website transparency.org
Remarks Transparency International logo.png

Transparency International (TI) is a non-governmental organization that monitors and publicizes corporate and political corruption in international development. It publishes an annual Corruption Perceptions Index, a comparative listing of corruption worldwide. The headquarters is located in Berlin, Germany but operates through more than 100 national chapters.[1]

Defining corruption as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain which eventually hurts everyone who depends on the integrity of people in a position of authority, it mainly visions for a world in which government, politics, business, civil society, and the daily lives of people are free of corruption.[2]

Transparency International consists of more than 100 chapters – locally established, independent organisations – that fight[dubious – discuss] corruption in their respective countries. From small bribes to large-scale looting, corruption differs from country to country. As chapters are staffed with local experts they are ideally placed to determine the priorities and approaches best suited to tackling corruption in their countries. This work ranges from visiting rural communities to provide free legal support to advising their government on policy reform. Corruption does not stop at national borders. The chapters play a crucial role in shaping its collective work and realising its regional and global goals, such as Strategy 2015. Transparency International’s multi-country research and advocacy initiatives are driven by the chapters.

They also state that they are “politically non-partisan and place great importance on our independence” meaning that no donor has any input into their policies[citation needed].

In 2013 Transparency International published the Government Defence Anti-corruption Index with which corruption in the defence sector of 82 countries was measured.[3] Some governments expressed criticism towards the methodology of the report. Mark Pyman defended the report in an interview and stressed the importance of transparency in the military sector. The plan is to publish the index every two years.[4]

Contents

History [edit]

Transparency International was founded in May 1993 mostly due to Peter Eigen, a former regional director for the World Bank. Founding board members included Eigen, Hansjörg Elshorst, Joe Githongo, Fritz Heimann, Michael Hershman, Kamal Hossain, Dolores L. Español, George Moody Stuart, Jerry Parfitt, Jeremy Pope and Frank Vogl.[5][unreliable source?][6][7] Eigen acted as Chairman and Pope was Managing Director.[7]

In 1995, Transparency International developed the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). The CPI ranked nations on the prevalence of corruption within each country, based upon surveys of business people. The CPI was subsequently published annually. It was criticized for poor methodology and unfair treatment of developing nations, while also being praised for highlighting corruption and embarrassing governments.[8]

In 1999, Transparency International began publishing the Bribe Payers Index (BPI) which ranked nations according to the prevalence that a country's multinational corporations would offer bribes.[8]

Organization and role [edit]

Transparency International is organized as a group of some 100 national chapters, with an international secretariat in Berlin, Germany. Originally founded in Germany in May 1993 as a not-for-profit organization, Transparency International is now an international non-governmental organization, and claims to be moving towards a completely democratic organizational structure[dubious – discuss]. Transparency International claims that:

"Transparency International is the global civil society organization leading the fight against corruption. It brings people together in a powerful worldwide coalition to end the devastating impact of corruption on men, women and children around the world. TI's mission is to create change towards a world free of corruption."

Since 1995, Transparency International has issued an annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI); it also publishes an annual Global Corruption Report, a Global Corruption Barometer and a Bribe Payers Index.

Transparency International does not undertake investigations on single cases of corruption or expose individual cases. It develops tools for fighting corruption and works with other civil society organizations, companies and governments to implement them. The goal of Transparency International is to be non-partisan[dubious – discuss] and to build coalitions against corruption.

Transparency International's biggest success has been to put the topic of corruption on the world's agenda. International Institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund now view corruption as one of the main obstacles for development, whereas prior to the 1990s this topic was not broadly discussed. Transparency International furthermore played a vital role in the introduction of the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.

Corruption Perceptions Index [edit]

Competitiveness and corruption. Presented at the workshop Corruption – how and why to avoid it in Prague, November 1998
Main article: Corruption Perceptions Index

The Corruption Perceptions Index—besides the World Bank corruption index[9]—is the most commonly[dubious – discuss] used measure for corruption in countries worldwide.[citation needed] To form this index, Transparency International compiles surveys that ask businessmen and analysts, both in and outside the countries they are analyzing, their perceptions of how corrupt a country is.[citation needed] Relying on the number of actual corruption cases would not work since laws and enforcement of laws differ significantly from country to country.

The Corruption Perceptions Index has received criticisms over the years. The main one stems from the difficulty in measuring corruption, which by definition happens behind the scenes. The Corruption Perceptions Index therefore needs to rely on third-party survey which have been criticized as potentially unreliable. Data can vary widely depending on the public perception of a country, the completeness of the surveys and the methodology used. The second issue is that data cannot be compared from year to year because Transparency International uses different methodologies and samples every year. This makes it difficult to evaluate the result of new policies.[10] The Corruption Perceptions Index authors replied to these criticisms by reminding that the Corruption Perceptions Index is meant to measure perception and not "reality". They argue that "perceptions matter in their own right, since... firms and individuals take actions based on perceptions".[11]

Competitiveness and corruption [edit]

A review of the linkages between countries' competitiveness and the incidence of corruption was initiated at a Transparency International workshop in Prague, November 1998 and picked-up in the International Anti-Corruption Conference three years later.[12][unreliable source?]

Mara Faccio (Purdue University, USA) has issued a number of papers on this subject, including a study entitled “Differences between Politically Connected and Non-Connected Firms: A Cross Country Comparison” [13]

Critics [edit]

The Transparency International Finland Director Jarmo Mäkinen is director of the Confederation of Finnish Industries. He denies that this presents a conflict of interests.[14]

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ http://www.transparency.org/whoweare/organisation[unreliable source?]
  2. ^ "What We Do". Transparency International. Retrieved 2012-06-04.[unreliable source?]
  3. ^ "Government Defence Anti-corruption Index". Transparency International. 2013. 
  4. ^ Mark Pyman (March 2013). "Transparency is feasible". dandc.eu. 
  5. ^ "When and why was Transparency International (TI) founded?", FAQ, Transparency International[unreliable source?]
  6. ^ Hicks, Bill (2010). "Transparency International". Pinkindustry.com. 
  7. ^ a b Larmour, Peter (September 2006). Bowden, Brett, ed. Global standards of market civilization. Routledge. pp. 95–106. ISBN 0-415-37545-2. [unreliable source?]
  8. ^ a b Chaikin, David (June 2009). Corruption and money laundering: a symbiotic relationship. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 12–13. ISBN 0-230-61360-8. [unreliable source?]
  9. ^ Anticorruption at web.worldbank.org
  10. ^ "A Users' Guide to Measuring Corruption". Global Integrity & UNDP. 
  11. ^ Uslaner, Eric M. (2008). Corruption, inequality, and the rule of law: the bulging pocket makes the easy life. Cambridge University Press. pp. 11–17. ISBN 0-521-87489-0. 
  12. ^ "tenth international anti-corruption conference: The Prague agenda". Differences between Politically Connected and Non-Connected Firms: A Cross Country Comparison. Financial Management, Autumn 2010, vol 39(3), 905–927. 2002 November. Retrieved 2010-12-10. [unreliable source?]
  13. ^ "Differences between Politically Connected and Non-Connected Firms: A Cross Country Comparison". Differences between Politically Connected and Non-Connected Firms: A Cross Country Comparison. Financial Management, Autumn 2010, vol 39(3), 905–927. 2010 November. Retrieved 2010-12-10. 
  14. ^ MTV3: Transparency pitää keskustelua Vehviläisen asuntokaupasta tärkeänä Helsingin Sanomat 15.2.2012

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Transparency International


Ethics/principles
Clean up after the Exxon Valdez oil spill
Social accounting
Environmental accounting
Reporting
Auditing
Related
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Transparency_International&oldid=555510758"