You could imagine any of the worst dictatorships not being corrupt if that merely means it is internally consistent. It makes one wonder what practical use such a grading system could be put to. The Guardian and the International Herald Tribune report about the Corruption Ranking. The BBC and many other radio stations follow up. The New York Times issues another full report about the Corruption Ranking.
Many academic requests come in via e-mail.
On this count the people of countries are not a subject matter for the study of corruption but the business actors of the countries are the ones which determine the level of corruption. We collect evidence of corruption. This corruption stems from companies offerring bribes to win privatised business, and we find it happening in every country wherever these companies are bidding. Then they could be deleted from public sector tender short-lists around the world.