Corruption Risks in Egypt, Middle East Increased in Run-up to Revolutions, Study Finds

Pakistan's anti-corruption safeguards also weakened in 2010

WASHINGTON, May 4, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Egypt's performance on key anti-corruption and transparency measures fell consistently from 2006 through the end of 2010, putting increased pressure on the country's already fragile governance environment in the run-up to the January 2011 revolution, a new study has found. Similar weaknesses were discovered across a range of other countries in the Middle East and North Africa including Yemen, Morocco, and the West Bank, while Pakistan witnessed its first-ever significant decline in the overall effectiveness of its anti-corruption safeguards. The report, a major investigative study of 36 countries, was released today by Global Integrity, an award-winning international nonprofit organization that tracks governance and corruption trends globally.

"The findings for a number of countries in the Middle East and North Africa, both in our 2010 data and looking back several years, paint a disturbing picture," said Global Integrity's Managing Director, Nathaniel Heller. "Countries in the region universally struggle on implementing even the most basic anti-corruption and transparency safeguards, such as ensuring access to government records, protecting an independent media, debating budgets in a transparent manner, and enforcing conflicts of interest safeguards to ensure that public officials do not benefit financially from their positions in government," said Heller.  "With rare exceptions, the Middle East and North Africa is a black hole when it comes to good governance. Perhaps Egypt should have surprised us only in that the revolution took so long to happen."

The Global Integrity Report: 2010 covers developed countries such as Canada and Italy as well as dozens of the world's emerging markets and developing nations, from Albania to Cameroon to Tanzania. Rather than measure perceptions of corruption, the report assesses the accountability mechanisms and transparency measures in place (or not) to prevent corruption through more than 300 "Integrity Indicators" as well as journalistic reporting of corruption.  Gaps in those safeguards suggest where corruption is more likely to occur.

Global Integrity's new data for Egypt track a slow and steady decline since the organization began coverage there with a local team of journalists and researchers in 2006.  That decline parallels similar negative data in a range of countries in the region.  "Those statistics serve as a sobering reminder that as long as governance reform and corruption issues remain on the back burner in the Middle East, we should expect more turmoil, not less," said Heller. In Pakistan, Global Integrity's new data tracked a first-ever significant decline in anti-corruption performance for the country in 2010. "Corruption and bribery may help to explain how Osama bin Laden was able to live freely in a mansion close the country's capital for so long," Heller noted.

Other major findings of the report include the following:

• Eastern and Central European countries continue to slip following EU and NATO accession.  Global Integrity has been predicting a continued slide in anti-corruption and transparency performance in Eastern Europe for several years, a trend unfortunately borne out in its 2010 data.  Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland all posted worst-ever scores on the Report, continuing a downward trend for many countries in the region following admission to the EU and NATO "clubs."
• Several countries experienced improvements in their anti-corruption safeguards.  Argentina, Ethiopia, and Peru led the gainers in the 2010 sample of countries.
• Internet censorship remains a challenge in many countries covered. Through its highly disaggregated data, Global Integrity is able to track the prevalence of online censorship, both the restrictions placed by government in accessing certain websites as well as explicit censorship by government authorities of content published online.  In 2010, Yemen, Ethiopia, and Egypt were among the worst performing countries when it came to internet censorship.

"The country assessments that comprise the Report offer among the most detailed, evidence-based evaluations of anti-corruption mechanisms available anywhere in the world," said Heller. "They provide policymakers, investors and citizens alike with the information to understand the governance challenges unique to each country and to take action."

The Global Integrity Report is the product of months of on-the-ground reporting and data gathering by a team of more than 150 in-country journalists and researchers who prepared close to a million words of text and more than 10,000 data points for their respective countries.  The 2010 report covers:

Albania, Angola, Argentina, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Malaysia, Moldova, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkey, West Bank and Yemen.

To access full results, please visit http://www.globalintegrity.org/report.  

Global Integrity is a leading international non-profit organization that tracks governance and corruption trends around the world.  Working with a network of more than 1,200 in-country journalists and researchers in more than 100 countries, we aim to shape and inform the debate around governance and anti-corruption reforms through in-depth diagnostic tools at the national, sub-national, and sector levels.  Our information is regularly used by aid donors, civil society, investors, and governments alike to press for governance reforms in both the developed and developing world.  For more information about the organization, visit http://www.globalintegrity.org and follow us on Twitter (@globalintegrity).

Editor's note: A press teleconference will be held Wednesday, May 4, 2011, at 11:00 a.m. EDT regarding this release. RSVP to [email protected] – Dial Toll-Free (US & Canada):  (888) 428-7458 or International Dial-In (Toll): (201) 604-5177

SOURCE Global Integrity