Transparency International Perception Index Shows Worrying Trends. 

On Tuesday, Transparency International released its annual Corruption Perceptions Index. The index rates countries from 0 to 100 (0 being the worst and 100 the best) and shows some very concerning trends.  According to this article in The Guardian, the UK dropped from 71 to 70. The reason was increased campaign contributions from wealthy individuals, including an unnamed donor who gave £15 million to the Conservative Party in the last election cycle. The U.S also saw a dip in its score from 65 last year to 64 this year due to the current political climate. Across the board, except for a few examples, such as Ukraine, which has sought to strengthen its anti-corruption operations, there is a worrying lack of impetus to tackle global corruption.  It is unclear in which direction anti-corruption efforts will go, but given that far-right populism appears to be going strong, the outlook is not promising.    

TI Corruption Index Shows a Decline in Law and Justice Causes a Rise in Corruption. 

On Tuesday, Transparency International (TI) released its annual Corruption Perception Index, which shows how corrupt a country is perceived to be. TI ranks country from 0 to 100; the closer a country is to 0, the more corrupt it is; for example, Somalia was ranked 11 out of 100, meaning that TI views them as the most corrupt country in the world. On the other hand, Denmark was ranked 90 out of 100, meaning they were the least corrupt.  According to TI’s website, the biggest threat to stopping corruption is the weakening of law & order worldwide, as there is a general lack of accountability from leaders in both democracies and authoritarian regimes. However, there is some good news: according to a report by the Atlantic Council, Ukraine has increased its score from 33 to 36 in the past year, which TI rates as one of the most considerable improvements globally.