Governance by Indicators: Global Power through Quantification and Rankings
Kevin Davis, Angelina Fisher, Benedict Kingsbury, and Sally Engle Merry
Abstract
The use of indicators as a technique of global governance is increasing rapidly. Major examples include the World Bank's Doing Business Indicators, the World Bank's Good Governance and Rule of Law indicators, the Millennium Development Goals, and the indicators produced by Transparency International. Human rights indicators are being developed in the UN and regional and advocacy organizations. The burgeoning production and use of indicators has not, however, been accompanied by systematic comparative study of, or reflection on, the implications, possibilities, and pitfalls of this practice. Th ... More
The use of indicators as a technique of global governance is increasing rapidly. Major examples include the World Bank's Doing Business Indicators, the World Bank's Good Governance and Rule of Law indicators, the Millennium Development Goals, and the indicators produced by Transparency International. Human rights indicators are being developed in the UN and regional and advocacy organizations. The burgeoning production and use of indicators has not, however, been accompanied by systematic comparative study of, or reflection on, the implications, possibilities, and pitfalls of this practice. This book furthers the study of these issues by examining the production and history of indicators, as well as relationships between the producers, users, subjects, and audiences of indicators. It also explores the creation, use, and effects of indicators as forms of knowledge and as mechanisms of making and implementing decisions in global governance. Using insights from case studies, empirical work, and theoretical approaches from several disciplines, the book identifies legal, policy, and normative implications of the production and use of indicators as a tool of global governance.
Keywords:
global governance,
World Bank,
Millennium Development Goals,
UN,
indicators,
knowledge
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2012 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199658244 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: September 2012 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199658244.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Kevin Davis, editor
Beller Family Professor of Business Law, New York University School of Law
Angelina Fisher, editor
Programme Director, NYU's Institute for International Law and Business
Benedict Kingsbury, editor
Murray and Ida Becker Professor of Law, New York University School of Law
Sally Engle Merry, editor
Professor of Anthropology, Law, and Society, New York University
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