This is reinforced by Transparency International's latest ranking, which puts Spain in 23rd position out of 163 countries and Italy 45th.
The Nordic democracies, in this sense, have achieved what most Americans aspire toward: a political system where the voice of ordinary citizens is fairly represented, where political traditions reinforce openness and transparency; where money does not dominate political decision-making; where government activities are transparent.
Increased transparency will reinforce the principle of fairness in tax systems in both developed and developing countries.
The guidelines reinforce the importance of transparency and fairness to ensure that the spirit of the civil service code is respected.
A good example of how this can be done can be found on the Dow Jones technology Web site All Things D. Other ingredients of a reader portal that would boost transparency and reinforce standards: Publishing in a searchable format all of The Times's journalism policies, including those relating to ethics, style and usage, blogging, anonymous sources and social media.
These concrete projects range from sharing data on police actions and engagement in communities to reinforce trust in and transparency of law enforcement bodies, mapping pollen activity based on open data collected through Internet-of-Things (IoT) infrastructures, and enabling health scientists to share information with the public on clinical studies.
Yet despite the challenges, we must be globally resolute in our commitment to accountable representative governments, with reinforcing systems of transparency and accountability.
The standards group headed by the veteran partners Gerald Corrigan and Michael Evans is scrubbing the bank's business practices to "reinforce the firm's client focus" and improve transparency.
Some executives talk of a spiritual, introspective exercise taking place under the aegis of the Business Standards Committee established in May to "reinforce the firm's client focus and improve upon the transparency of our activities".
