It is possible that any nation can deliberately work towards improving the perception of its level of corruption, rather than addressing the corruption itself. For example, redefining parameters or statistical modelling to produce more favorable interpretations.
The more corrupt a nations public sector is, the more likely these distortions will exist. I'm curious as to the methodology used by the authors of the CPI and how it addresses this issue.
And here in New Zealand we may have the lowest CPI score/highest ranking, but we are still not perfect. A certain foreign government has been known to subvert some of our nations public sector institutions, and there has been corporate meddling in policy to the benefit of elected officials, both from local and international companies.
