Flipping the Corruption Myth: Which is More Corrupt, the Petty Dictatorship or the Superpower that Installs It?

Flipping the Corruption Myth: Which is More Corrupt, the Petty Dictatorship or the Superpower that Installs It?

Transparency International recently published their latest annual
Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), laid out in an eye-catching map of the world with the least corrupt nations coded in happy yellow and the most corrupt nations smeared in stigmatising red. The CPI defines corruption
as "the misuse of public power for private benefit", and draws its data
from 12 different institutions including the World Bank, Freedom House,
and the World Economic Forum.

When I first saw this map I was struck by the fact that most of the
yellow areas happen to be rich Western countries, including the United
States and the United Kingdom, whereas red covers almost the entirety of
the global South, with countries like South Sudan, Afghanistan, and
Somalia daubed especially dark. 

This geographical division fits squarely with mainstream views, which
see corruption as the scourge of the developing world (cue cliche
images of dictators in Africa and bribery in India). But is this
storyline accurate?

Many international development organisations hold that persistent
poverty in the Global South is caused largely by corruption among local
public officials. In 2003 these concerns led to the United Nations
Convention against Corruption, which asserts that,
while corruption exists in all countries, this "evil phenomenon" is
"most destructive" in the global South, where it is a "key element in
economic underperformance and a major obstacle to poverty alleviation
and development". 

There's only one problem with this theory: It's just not true.