Civil Liberties Decline, Corruption Rampant

Corruption tends to be more prevalent in countries with low levels of civil liberties.

This is evident in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) report released by Transparency International (TI).

The CPI is an index that measures the level of corruption in a country based on the perceptions of experts and business people regarding abuse of public office, bribery, official integrity, and law enforcement.

These perceptions are then converted into a score on a scale of 0-100. The higher the score, the more corruption-free a country is considered. Conversely, the lower the score, the more corrupt a country is considered.

First, TI classifies civil liberties into five levels based on the Civicus Monitor criteria:

1. Open

The state provides space and fully protects civil liberties. Citizens are free to express themselves, associate, demonstrate, and receive and convey information without restrictions.

2. Narrowed

The state provides space for civil liberties. However, there are cases of harassment, arrest, or assault against people deemed critical of the authorities. There are strict regulations or political pressure on media owners.

3. Obstructed

The state undermines civil liberties through illegal surveillance, bureaucracy, and derogatory statements. Citizens can demonstrate but are vulnerable to excessive violence from law enforcement. The media face the risk of physical attacks and defamation lawsuits, which encourages self-censorship.

4. Repressed

The state severely restricts civil liberties. People who criticize the authorities risk surveillance, intimidation, imprisonment, injury, and even death. The media generally serve as a mouthpiece for the government, and online activism is closely monitored.

5. Closed

The space for civil liberties is completely closed. The state and powerful non-state actors routinely imprison, injure, and kill people who exercise their rights to expression, association, and peaceful assembly. Any form of criticism of those in power is severely punished, and press freedom is nonexistent.

TI then found that, in 2025, countries with open freedoms had an average CPI score of 68 out of 100 points.

However, as the level of civil liberties declined, the average CPI score decreased, indicating increasingly rampant corruption.

In countries with limited freedoms, the average CPI score dropped to 51 points.

Then, in countries with restricted, repressed, and closed freedoms, the average CPI score continued to decline to 30 points, as shown in the graph.

"Those where the freedoms of expression, assembly and association are duly safeguarded are generally more resilient against corruption and score better on the CPI," TI stated in its Corruption Perceptions Index 2025 report.

"However, countries where these freedoms are lacking are more likely to lose control of corruption," they said.