There is a long running concept of honor and chivalry in Anglo-American culture which intertwines with and mutually reinforces Christianity but the two are not

There is a long running concept of honor and chivalry in Anglo-American culture which intertwines with and mutually reinforces Christianity but the two are not one and the same. It traces back to at least the Normans; the word "chivalry" itself comes to English from Norman French and means, "the combination of qualities expected of an ideal knight, esp. courage, honor, courtesy, justice, and a readiness to help the weak." The culture of America is borne in significant part of the culture of England. And the culture of England is borne in significant part of the culture of the Normans. And while all of those cultures are hugely different there is still this thread of courage, justice and honor that runs through them all. I don't know if this cultural legacy explains the lower rate of corruption found in America relative to other countries (a low rate even when America was a poor country). It could be interesting to identify other cultures that have deep concepts of honor/chivalry and see how the governments derived by those cultures fare corruption-wise today.