The Corruptions Perception Index produced by Transparency International is a compelling example of how the concept of corruption can be used in a globalization context so as to justify a particular vision of globalization: namely, the Western neoliberal capitalist model. The top twenty countries in the CPI are generally all Western or Anglophone countries, who are at once the wealthiest countries in terms of various economic indexes, as well as belonging to the same military alliances, such as NATO: In other words, the Western view of corruption in such a list can be viewed from the opposite perspective as an apologetic for the Western view of how globalization should look like: it is precisely countries that are not in the “Western” world, such as China and Russia, which nevertheless remain geopolitical rivals to the West that are deemed corrupt.
This is to say that when looking at how Europe relates to globalization and corruption, it is precisely the centers of capitalism, closely tied to the Untied States, that are considered to be lacking corruption: but these are the same bloc of countries in the world that hold economic and military hegemony. The CPI Index, in other words, can be looked at as a form of ethnocentrism, which justifies Western normativities to society, politics, military power and economy – i.e., normativities that are essentially neoliberal, capitalist models. Through the CPI Index, Western Europe and the U.S., against its geopolitical rivals, justifies its own vision of how globalization should look like. The problem with such lists is therefore that they become a type of soft power for the West, glorifying one particular vision of globalization at the expense of all others. In this sense, this is not a true globalization, since a diversity of different norms are deemed untenable by the CPI.