So far, so good. But in our quest to rid the world of corruption, we often forget one elemental truth--corruption may be a scourge for the ordinary people, but it is a vital governing tool for authoritarian regimes.

 

Of course, corruption exists in democracies as well, but such corruption, petty in both nature and sum, is fundamentally different from the massive looting by autocrats in dictatorships. That is why the least corrupt countries, with a few exceptions, all happen to be democracies, and the most corrupt countries are overwhelmingly autocracies. In Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index 2008, which covered 180 societies, 90% of the 60 least corrupt societies in the world are democracies. The remaining six non-democracies are small city-states (Singapore, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain). In contrast, about 60% of the 60 most corrupt countries are autocracies, including Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Belarus, Syria, Sudan and Burma. Nearly all the 30 most corrupt countries are dictatorships. (China is viewed as among the middle 60 "medium-corrupt" countries.)

 

That corruption is more prevalent in autocracies is no mere coincidence. While democracies derive their legitimacy and popular support through competitive elections and the rule of law, autocracies depend on the support of a small group of political and social elites, the military, the bureaucracy and the secret police. Because these elites and constituencies do not have any core values other than self-serving instincts, their loyalty and support are fickle and must be secured by constant bribes in the form of special privileges. They not only have ostensibly legal perks such as free world-class health care, lavish official residence, and expensive junkets, but also make huge illicit profits by rigging government contracts and looting public wealth in shady privatization deals.