Transparency International

Transparency International (TI) is an NGO operating under the slogan "fighting corruption worldwide"[[1]]( . The organisation's stated mission is "the relief of poverty, suffering and distress in any part of the world caused directly or indirectly by corruption", "the promotion, for the public benefit, of ethical standards of conduct and compliance with the law by the public and private sectors in international and domestic business transactions and overseas development initiatives", and "increasing awareness of corruption and its effects through communication initiatives to the wider public and active engagement with our membership"[[2]]( . Writing in The Guardian , Calvin Tucker describes the tension between the media perception and funding of Transparency International. He argues: The international corporate media considers TI to be a reliable source, despite the fact that almost all their funding comes from western governments and big business. The British government is one of the major donors, contributing £1 million in 2007. Other donors include the US government, Shell and ExxonMobil .[[4]]( Tranparency International's roots can be found in the World Bank . The NGO was founded by Peter Eigen formerly of the world bank and TI operate in a similar way. Criticising the World Bank George Monbiot highlights the way that neoliberal considerations form the basis of their lending, he says: "The recipient countries can request whatever they want as long as it’s neoliberalism.[[5]]( " Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index (CPI) follows a similar ideology. The CPI seeks to find the problem of corruption amongst the governments of developing nations. This can be seen by looking at the CPI which highlights high levels of corruption amongst the poorest countries and low levels of corruption among the richest. This reinforces the dogma that poor countries have themselves to blame for the predicament they are in. This neoliberal perspective held by the World Bank and reinforced by Transparency International through the CPI makes it easier to place conditions on any money lent out to the worlds poorest nations. Jeremy Pope traces the early sources of funding for TI when he says "the initial money was provided by the Rowntree Foundation") , and the Nuffield Foundation") . The German development agency guaranteed their rent, and then, the Ford Foundation came in. "Finally, what really made TI was when USAID came with about $3 million. At that stage, I decided I didn't want to manage this thing anymore."[[8]]( . According to Jeremy Pope the World Bank dismissed corruption as a political issue and refused to broach the topic until James Wolfenson") became the president of the organisation. Pope describes this example of a shift in policy towards corruption as important because "One of our missions in TI was to reverse the policies of the World Bank, United Nations Development Programme and so on, on the corruption issue and very quickly, we’ve achieved them. It was really quite phenomenal. We thought it might take about 10 years and it had taken months rather than years."[[9]]( . Transparency International publishes a Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which according to Jeremy Pope, "was developed because journalists kept asking, "Who were the worst countries? Who were the best?"[[10]]( . TI operates a series of five programmes each tackling corruption in a different area. TI describes the programmes as follows: Investigative journalist Greg Palast subjects Tranparency International to strong criticism. He argues, "one of its big benefactors is Balfour Beatty construction - Britain's 'Halliburton' - which has admitted to massive bribery. Five years ago I reported how the former chairman of Transparency International's backer, "announced with enormous pride that he personally had handed over the check to the government minister for the Pergau Dam bribe."[[12]]( . Palast writes: "TI's support comes from bribe pa