2009 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.

Despite having many world-class anti-corruption safeguards in place, such as a robust and independent media and civil society organizations that serve as effective anti-corruption watchdogs, the United States continues to struggle with controlling the corrupting influence of money in politics. With the average cost of running a national-level political campaign ranging from US$1-10 million (never mind the nearly US$1 billion spent by political parties in the last presidential election), the U.S. sets the standard globally for the volume of private money flowing into the political process on an annual basis. The new Obama administration has begun to take small steps towards other important accountability and transparency reforms — including a commitment to better enforcement of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and improved citizen access to government data — but until improved controls over private money in politics are enacted, the U.S. has likely hit a "glass ceiling" in the context of governance and accountability reforms.