Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book aims to measure corruption and considers the extent to which these various studies are reliable measures of corruption. Petter Langseth argues that corruption represents a 'leakage' of resources from institutions that are supposed to be using them for social objectives. Mark Philp offers a brief discussion of the conceptual issues associated with arriving at a definition of corruption and the difficulties of developing appropriate measurements for assessing the incidence and seriousness of political corruption. A. J. Brown discusses various definitional approaches and typologies covered in the literature. The book discusses Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index (CPI) and provides an in-depth explanation of the methodology behind the 2002 index. It outlines what Frederick Galtung considers to be the failings of the CPI. The book discusses the results of a public opinion survey conducted by the Center for Anti-corruption Research and Initiative.