According to Transparency International, in 2016, Ecuador was ranked the 120th least corrupt country in the world out of 176 countries. Likewise, Felipe Burbano de Lara's chapter investigates Correa's deliberate strategy of state building by traveling to distant parts of the country and physically representing the state in the previously forgotten periphery. Carlos de la Torre, similarly, declares that "Correa wasted resources, used state funds to keep winning elections, and relied on corruption to cement the loyalty of his clique" (108). [Extracted from the article]