# Transparency International **Transparency International** is the Berlin-based non-governmental organization founded in 1993 that has done more than any other body to define corruption as a measurable, comparable global problem. Its definition — *the abuse of entrusted power for private gain* — is the one this vault adopts, and its taxonomy of petty corruption, grand corruption, and [[State Capture]] is the standard vocabulary of the field. The organization operates through national chapters and is best known for the [[Corruption Perceptions Index]], published annually since 1995, which scores and ranks countries on perceived public-sector corruption. It also produces the Global Corruption Barometer, the Bribe Payers Index, and country-level advocacy work. Its methodological limits are worth naming: the CPI measures *perception* by experts and business surveys, not incidence, and it is a public-sector instrument — it does not capture the legalized private-to-public influence channels ([[Lobbying]], [[Dark Money]], [[Campaign Finance]]) that the vault treats as the American system's defining feature. A country can score respectably while running an entirely lawful [[Corruption]] architecture. That gap is itself analytically useful. This is a stub — expand with chapter structure, funding, the CPI methodology debate, and its role in the [[Foreign Corrupt Practices Act]] and UNCAC enforcement environment. ## See Also - [[Corruption Perceptions Index]] - [[Corruption]] - [[Kleptocracy]] - [[Foreign Corrupt Practices Act]]