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Top 10 most corrupt countries in the world
Ranking the world's most corrupt nations for 2018.
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- Corruption plagues governments around the world.
- Some of the same countries are the most and least corrupt every year.
- Nigeria and Somalia top two of the most respected corruption rankings.
Corruption within a country's government undermines the solidity of its institutions and tends to lead to popular unrest. People just don't like their officials stealing from them and engaging in cronyism or nepotism. But the phenomenon is as old as human history and isn't likely to go away soon. Countries large and small have been ensnared in corruption scandals. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the former President of Brazil has been jailed since April 7th for money laundering and “passive corruption." Argentina's former president Christina Kirchner was in court on September 3rd for a corruption case investigation involving bribes in the millions. The former Prime Minister of Thailand, Yingluck Shinawatra, has been on the run since 2017 after being sentenced in a corruption scandal.
In the United States, cases of corruption have plagued the Republican Party of late, with Rep. Duncan Hunter of California being indicted for illegally using campaign funds for personal enrichment. Meanwhile, Representative Chris Collins was recently arrested for allegedly perpetrating an insider trading scheme. White House administration officials Tom Price, the former Health and Human Services secretary, and Scott Pruitt, the former Environmental Protection Agency administrator, both had to resign amidst claims of abusing their government positions and ethics scandals. President Trump himself has had to continually answer accusations about his business dealings and was accused recently by his former lawyer Michael Cohen of illegally using campaign funds to pay hush money to mistresses.
While corruption may be hard to root out until more transparent systems of political representation come to pass, shining a light on the scandals helps keep the politicians honest.
There are two respected sets of rankings that attempt to gauge how corrupt countries are. Let's look at both of them to arrive at a fuller picture.
Below are the top 10 most corrupt countries in the world, according to the U.S. News and World Report for 2018. The data was compiled from the 2018 Best Countries rankings, an analysis of 80 countries based on a survey of over 21,000 citizens around the world. The survey gauged how participants perceived the corruption in other countries.
1. Nigeria
2. Colombia
3. Pakistan
4. Iran
5. Mexico
6. Ghana
7. Angola
8. Russia
9. Kenya
10. Guatemala
The United States is 61st on this list, while Australia and Canada are 79th and 80th, making them the least corrupt. One certainly wonders where the U.S. will rank next year, given the swirling corruption allegations of 2018.
Another key ranking, the Corruptions Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2017, compiled by Transparency International, a well-known NGO that fights global corruption, has the United States in 16th place. This list of 180 countries and territories starts with the least corrupt first, which in this case would be the country of New Zealand, followed by Denmark, Finland, and Norway.
According to The Washington Post, the CPI's methodology involves analyzing 10 global surveys of experts and business people as well as assessments from a group of institutions. Still, it looks not at actual levels of corruption but its perceived levels.
Overall, Transparency International says in its report that more than two-thirds of countries worldwide got a pretty poor average score of 43, indicating corruption's dangerous spread.
As far as which country is the most corrupt, that honor on the CPI goes to Somalia for the 10th year in a row. South Sudan and Syria follow just behind.
Here are the top 10 most corrupt countries by the CPI:
1. Somalia
2. South Sudan
3. Syria
4. Afghanistan
5. Yemen
6. Sudan
7. Libya
8. North Korea
9. Guinea-Bissau
10. Equatorial Guinea
Here's the full list going from least to most corrupt:
Popular
Why the number 137 is one of the greatest mysteries in physics
Famous physicists like Richard Feynman think 137 holds the answers to the Universe.
31 October, 2018
Pixabay
Surprising Science
- The fine structure constant has mystified scientists since the 1800s.
- The number 1/137 might hold the clues to the Grand Unified Theory.
- Relativity, electromagnetism and quantum mechanics are unified by the number.
</li></ul>
<p>Does the Universe around us have a fundamental structure that can be glimpsed through special numbers?</p><p>The brilliant physicist <strong>Richard Feynman</strong> (1918-1988) famously thought so, <a href="http://www.secretsinplainsight.com/why-137/" target="_blank">saying</a> there is a number that all theoretical physicists of worth should "worry about". He called it "one of the greatest damn mysteries of physics: a <strong>magic number </strong>that comes to us with no understanding by man".</p><p>That magic number, called the <strong>fine structure constant</strong>, is a fundamental constant, with a value which nearly equals <strong>1/137</strong>. Or 1/137.03599913, to be precise. It is denoted by the Greek letter <strong>alpha - α.</strong></p><p>What's special about alpha is that it's regarded as the best example of a <strong>pure number,</strong> one that doesn't need units. It actually combines three of nature's fundamental constants - the speed of light, the electric charge carried by one electron, and the Planck's constant, as explains physicist and astrobiologist <strong>Paul Davies</strong> to <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/mathematics/number-fascinates-physicists-above-all-others" target="_blank">Cosmos magazine.</a> Appearing at the intersection of such key areas of physics as relativity, electromagnetism and quantum mechanics is what gives 1/137 its allure.</p><p>Physicist<strong> Laurence Eaves,</strong> a professor at the <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk" target="_blank">University of Nottingham,</a> thinks the number 137 would be the one you'd signal to the aliens to indicate that we have some measure of mastery over our planet and understand quantum mechanics. The aliens would know the number as well, especially if they developed advanced sciences.</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="44c1d427122da546f1311c7215a5935e"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WlSLIW0gZtk?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>The number preoccupied other great physicists as well, including the Nobel Prize winning<strong> Wolfgang Pauli</strong> (1900-1958) who was obsessed with it his whole life. </p><blockquote>"When I die my first question to the Devil will be: What is the meaning of the fine structure constant?" Pauli<a href="http://www.academia.edu/172763/The_Meaning_of_the_Fine_Structure_Constant" target="_blank"> joked.</a></blockquote><p>Pauli also referred to the fine structure constant during his Nobel lecture on December 13th, 1946 in Stockholm, saying a theory was necessary that would determine the constant's value and "thus explain the atomistic structure of electricity, which is such an essential quality of all atomic sources of electric fields actually occurring in nature."</p><p>One use of this curious number is to measure the interaction of charged particles like electrons with electromagnetic fields. Alpha determines how fast an excited atom can emit a photon. It also affects the details of the light emitted by atoms. Scientists have been able to observe a pattern of shifts of light coming from atoms called "fine structure" (giving the constant its name). This "fine structure" has been seen in sunlight and the light coming from other stars.</p>
<p>The constant figures in other situations, making physicists wonder why. Why does nature insist on this number? It has appeared in various calculations in physics since the 1880s, spurring numerous attempts to come up with a Grand Unified Theory that would incorporate the constant since. So far no single explanation took hold. <a href="http://www.physicscentral.com/explore/action/constant.cfm" target="_blank">Recent research</a> also introduced the possibility that the constant has actually increased over the last six billion years, even though slightly.</p><p>If you'd like to know the math behind fine structure constant more specifically, the way you arrive at alpha is by putting the 3 constants h,c, and e together in the equation --<strong></strong></p><p><br><img src="https://assets.rbl.ms/18785791/980x.png"> <small></small><small></small></p><p>As the units c, e, and h cancel each other out, the "pure" number of 137.03599913 is left behind. For historical reasons, <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/mathematics/number-fascinates-physicists-above-all-others" target="_blank">says Professor Davies</a>, the inverse of the equation is used 2πe2/hc = 1/137.03599913. If you're wondering what is the precise value of that fraction - it's <strong>0.007297351.</strong></p>
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Americans under 40 want major reforms, expanded Supreme Court
Younger Americans support expanding the Supreme Court and serious political reforms, says new poll.
22 October, 2020
Demonstrators In Louisville calling for justice for Breonna Taylor.
Credit: Jon Cherry/Getty Images
Politics & Current Affairs
- Americans under 40 largely favor major political reforms, finds a new survey.
- The poll revealed that most would want to expand the Supreme Court, impose terms limits, and make it easier to vote.
- Millennials are more liberal and reform-centered than Generation Z.
<p>A new nonpartisan poll of Americans under 40 finds they want serious reforms in the American political system. The survey, conducted by the University of Massachusetts Lowell, showed great support for expanding the Supreme Court, terms limits, and abolishing the electoral college.</p><p>In particular, the researchers looked at opinions from 1,503 people between 18 and 39 years old, representing millennials – those born from early 1980s to mid-1990s, and the succeeding Generation Z – those born in the mid-to-late 1990s until early 2010s. Overall, most everyone agreed that the political system is quite broken, with only 24 percent having trust in the government. Interestingly, millennials appear more liberal-minded and want reforms more than the younger cohort.</p><p>The majority of the polled (52 percent) were in favor of upping the number of Supreme Court justices from nine to 13, with 66 percent of the millennials and 62 percent of the Gen Z'ers supporting. Seventy-two percent of all surveyed wanted to do away with lifetime appointments of the justices and impose term limits. Seventy-nine percent of the millennials and 62 percent of Gen Z approved this measure. Eighty-four percent of all surveyed wanted Congressional term limits.</p>
<p><span style="background-color: initial;">Political science professor John Cluverius, associate director of the </span><span style="background-color: initial;"><a href="https://www.uml.edu/research/public-opinion/" target="_blank">UMass Lowell Center for Public Opinion</a></span><span style="background-color: initial;">, which carried out the poll, sees a correlation between the views of the younger Americans and the politics in the run-up to the 2020 elections:</span></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"It's no coincidence that as Joe Biden's lead has grown in the polls, the more comfortable Americans are with expanding the size of the Supreme Court," said Cluverius in a <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-10/uoml-nnp102120.php" target="_blank">press release</a>. "As the chance of Trump holding a second term and appointing more justices dwindles, the opposition to court-packing dwindles as well. Saying Americans are opposed to expanding the court used to be conventional wisdom; now it's a commonly held misconception."</p><p>Americans under 40 also want to eliminate the Electoral College and rather pick Presidents by popular vote, with 58 percent overall in favor to the idea. That includes 64 percent of millennials and 54 percent of Gen Z people polled. Sixty-nine percent of all adults also like the idea of "no excuse" absentee balloting for any voter. Additionally, 71 percent of millennials would rather see more than two political parties being competitive in the U.S., compared to 61 percent of all and 59 percent of Gen Z participants.</p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDU1OTE1OS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNTc5NDI2NX0.GCiPQgPiUWv7qkONIvergMHcuAiMwrs3ksV2Hkmm0Gg/img.png?width=980" id="f3fb1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b9e0e653081a68fd9e920e0ae80641f2" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>On the issues of social justice and the Black Lives Matter movement, the poll found 8 percent fewer overall saying that Black people are treated less fairly than whites, in contrast to a similar poll from August. Forty-three percent of the respondents had such opinions, with Gen Z'ers leading in this belief at 54 percent.<br></p><p> Joshua Dyck, director of the Center for Public Opinion and associate professor of political science, commented that the ideological divide didn't break down in an expected way:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"What I find most interesting is that it is not always the youngest Americans who espouse the most liberal viewpoints," <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-10/uoml-nnp102120.php" target="_blank">he shared</a>." Here we see millennials, the oldest of whom are about to turn 40, as the driving force behind the vision for a more progressive future."</p>
<p>The poll also revealed that the vast majority of Gen Z (84 percent) and millennial (85 percent) responders are very likely to believe that human activity contributes to climate change. They also think the U.S. government has not done enough to combat it, with 64 percent of Gen Z'ers and 65 percent of millennials holding such views.</p><p>Americans under 40 are also largely in favor of canceling all student loan debt, with 66 percent of Generation Z and 66 percent of millennials supporting. In a telling comparison, the older generations are less on board, with Gen X'ers (those born from mid-60s to early 1980s) split, with 51 percent favoring the idea. Only 38 percent of the Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964) and 31 percent of the Silent Generation (born 1928 to 1945) back the notion.</p><p>Check out the <a href="https://www.uml.edu/Research/public-opinion/polls/default.aspx" target="_blank">detailed results of the poll.</a></p>
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Can fake news help you remember real facts better?
A 2020 study published in the journal of Psychological Science explores the idea that fake news can actually help you remember real facts better.
22 October, 2020
Credit: Rawpixel.com on Shutterstock
Mind & Brain
- In 2019, researchers at Stanford Engineering analyzed the spread of fake news as if it were a strain of Ebola. They adapted a model for understanding diseases that can infect a person more than once to better understand how fake news spreads and gains traction.
- A new study published in 2020 explores the idea that fake news can actually help you remember real facts better.
- "These findings demonstrate one situation in which misinformation reminders can diminish the negative effects of fake-news exposure in the short term," researchers on the project explained.
<p>Fake news spreads like a virus. In 2019, <a href="https://engineering.stanford.edu/magazine/article/how-fake-news-spreads-real-virus" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">researchers at Stanford Engineering</a> analyzed the spread of fake news as if it were a strain of Ebola. The researchers adapted a model for understanding diseases that can infect a person more than once to better understand how fake news spreads and gains traction.</p><p>Researchers studied how many people are "susceptible" to the disease (or in this case, how many people are likely to believe a certain piece of fake news). The researchers also looked at how many people are exposed to fake news, how they are actually "infected" (believing the story), and how many people are likely to then spread that "infection" (misinformation) on to others. </p><p>Much like a virus, this study concluded that over time, being exposed to multiple strains of fake news can wear down a person's resistance and make them increasingly susceptible to believing it. The more times a person is exposed to the same fake news, especially if it is coming from an influential source, the more likely they are to become persuaded, no matter the likelihood of such news being true.</p><p>"The so-called 'power-law' of social media, a well-documented pattern in social networks, hold that messages replicate most rapidly if they are targeted at relatively small numbers of influential people with large followings," the <a href="https://engineering.stanford.edu/magazine/article/how-fake-news-spreads-real-virus" target="_blank">researchers explained in the Stanford study</a>.</p><ul class="ee-ul"></ul>
Previous studies on misinformation have already paved the way to a better understanding
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDU1NzQ4NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNjE2Mjg1Nn0.hs_xHktN1KXUDVoWpHIVBI2sMJy6aRK6tvBVFkqmYjk/img.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C800%2C0%2C823&height=700" id="fc135" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="246bb1920c0f40ccb15e123914de1ab1" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="fake news concept of misinformation and fake news in the media" />How does misinformation spread?
Credit: Visual Generation on Shutterstock
<p><strong>What is the "continued-influence" effect?</strong></p><p>A challenge in using corrections effectively is that repeating the misinformation can have negative consequences. Research on this effect (referred to as "continued-influence") has shown that information presented as factual that is later deemed false can still contaminate memory and reasoning. The persistence of the continued-influence effect has led researchers to generally recommend avoiding repeating misinformation. </p><p>"Repetition increases familiarity and believability of misinformation," <a href="https://engineering.stanford.edu/magazine/article/how-fake-news-spreads-real-virus" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the study explains</a>.</p><p><strong>What is the "familiarity-backfire" effect?</strong></p><p>Studies of this effect have shown that increasing misinformation familiarity through extra exposure to it leads to misattributions of fluency when the context of said information cannot be recalled. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797620952797#" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">A 2017 study</a> examined this effect in myth correction. Subjects rated beliefs in facts and myths of unclear veracity. Then, the facts were affirmed and myths corrected and subjects again made belief ratings. The results suggested a role for familiarity but the myth beliefs remained below pre-manipulation levels. </p>New research into fake news has uncovered something interesting about misinformation
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ddeac998508e09fb9d1b4691d6c20d28"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bJ5qUx1WOsg?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>A 2020 study published in the journal of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797620952797" target="_blank">Psychological Science</a> explores the idea that fake news can actually help you remember real facts better.</p><p>Fake news exposure can cause misinformation to be mistakenly remembered and believed. In two experiments, the team (led by Christopher N. Wahlheim) examined whether reminders of misinformation could do the opposite: improve memory for and beliefs in corrections to that fake news. </p><p>The study had subjects reading factual statements and then separate misinformation statements taken from news websites. Then, the subjects read statements that corrected the misinformation. Some misinformation reminders appeared before some corrections but not all. Then, subjects were asked to recall facts, indicate their belief in those recalls, and indicate whether they remembered the corrections and misinformation. </p><p>The results of the study showed that reminders increased recall and belief accuracy. These benefits were greater both when misinformation was recalled and when the subjects remembered that corrections had occurred. </p><p>Researchers on the project <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797620952797" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">explained</a>: "These findings demonstrate one situation in which misinformation reminders can diminish the negative effects of fake-news exposure in the short term."</p><p><strong>The conclusion: fake-news misinformation that was corrected by fact-checked information can improve both memory and belief accuracy in real information.</strong></p><p>"We examined the effects of providing misinformation reminders before fake-news corrections on memory and belief accuracy. Our study included everyday fake-news misinformation that was corrected by fact-check-verified statements. Building on research using fictional, yet naturalistic, event narratives to show that reminders can counteract misinformation reliance in memory reports," <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797620952797" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the researchers</a> explained.</p><p>"It suggests that there may be benefits to learning how someone was being misleading. This knowledge may inform strategies that people use to counteract high exposure to misinformation spread for political gain," <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-10/afps-rtf101620.php" target="_blank">Wahlheim said</a>.</p>
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Mind & Brain
Can you solve what an MIT professor once called 'the hardest logic puzzle ever'?
Logic puzzles can teach reasoning in a fun way that doesn't feel like work.
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