2008 Assessment

This peer-reviewed country report includes:

Integrity Indicators Scorecard: Scores, scoring criteria, commentary, references, and peer review perspectives for more than 300 Integrity Indicators.

Reporter's Notebook: An on-the-ground look at corruption and integrity from a leading local journalist.

Corruption Timeline: Ten years of political context to today's corruption and integrity issues.

Country Facts: Statistical context for each country.

Chile faces its greatest governance challenges in the areas of public access to information, political financing and whistleblower protection. Despite a citizen right to access government information, approximately 60% of requests for information do not receive responses. The limits on donations to political parties are only applied during election periods, and the monitoring agency for political financing is not effective due to low penalties and weak disclosure standards required of political parties. Participation by the legislature and CSOs in the budget process only occurs through informal processes, thereby marginalizing their influence. Even though there is a national ombudsman in Chile, "the problem is that not many citizens know about its existence." Whistleblower protection could increase with the proposed legal establishment of an independent redress mechanism for lower-level appointees in the civil service.