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Corruption is a leading indicator for political instability, and 64
countries where fraud and bribery are widespread risk falling into
violent upheaval,a global think tank said in a new report.
While anti-corruption researchers long have noted the corrosive power
of corruption, its political impact has never before been measured
globally.
By examining the linkage between corruption measures and peaceful
societies, the research by theInstitute for Economics and Peace
(IEP)in Sydney finds strong statistical evidence that high and rising
levels of corruption can undermine security, and that only small
increases can cause civil unrest.
"The most striking aspect of this relationship is that there is a
tipping point," Aubrey Fox, U.S. executive director for the
Australia-based group, said in an interview.
"This is enormously important for countries, becauseif you can,
through incremental efforts, knock corruption below that tipping point
and control it, you can avert the most difficult consequences."
The findings come as world leaders consider including targets for
battling corruption aspart of the new U.N. development goals for
adoption in September.
The IEP examined trends in peace and corruption over the past 15 years
by looking at Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions
Index (CPI), the World Bank's Control of Corruption measure, and its
own Global Peace Index.
It found that when a country's CPI score is less than 40 on a scale of
0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (veryclean), it has reached a threshold for
collapse of government institutions and a rise in internal violence.
From this tipping point, small increases in corruption can trigger
large declines in peace, as measured by the Global Peace Index. High
levels of corruption in the police and judiciary are critical factors
for undermining social cohesion, IEP said.
Over the last seven years, IEP said the indices show the world has
become slightly less peaceful and that corruption has increased,
particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa.
Countries at the tipping point, it said, include Greece, where
political corruption has led to a debt crisis and social unrest;
Liberia, which was recovering from civil war when the Ebola epidemic
hit last year; and Iran.
However, gains in building a peaceful society do not show any
statistical linkage to lower levels of corruption, indicating how
persistent and challenging is the job of tackling fraud, bribery and
abuse of power, IEP said.
Credit: Reuters
