Do governance indicators matter

1
Do governance indicators matter?

• Empirics of Governance Seminar
• Washington
• 1-2 May 2008
• Nils Boesen

2
The point of departure

• Governance reforms are painstakingly difficult
• Donor support to governance reform has been
  ineffective
• Donor driven reforms
• Politically uninformed
• Overloaded reform agendas
• Ridiculous time horizons
• Poor attention to change management process
  issues
• Can governance indicators help?

3
A superfluous sticker?

• If you think there are problems with the data,
• try without it
• - That has worked quite well for governance
  development for several hundred years so what is
  the new offer?

4
A solution looking for a problem?

• Governance functions as umbrella concept,
  focusing on factors which are associated with
  present-day OECD countries.
• OECD Survey of Donor Approaches to Governance
  Assessment, February 2008

5
Through a looking glass darkly?

• Voigt Internally vs. externally sanctioned
  institutions - Political institutions determine
  economic institutions
• Kaufmann What To Measure Rules or Outcomes?
• Kray some areas of governance have particularly
  clear and unambiguous definitions Corruption is
  the use of public office for private gain
• Etc Rule of law, elections, transparency
  assuming citizenship rather than
  sovereign-subject-relationships?

6
Understandingnothing??
Measuring the difference?
Desired reality
Current reality
..or understanding reality?
7
Realist alternatives 1 other data!
8
Realist alternatives 2 Benchmarks within reach
Attainable, attractive vision
Desired reality
Current reality
matching power behind reform, current governance
configuration and domestic capacity to change
9
Example PEFA

• 31 potential PEFA compliance gaps where to
  start? Indicators give no answer but may add to
  overload risk
• Still risk of solution-driven standards PI 12 -
  Multi-year perspective in fiscal planning,
  expenditure policy and budgeting
• Legitimacy risk Mainly donor-developed, donor
  executed

10
Ways forward action research

• Specific benchmarks, co-developed with partner
  countries and the professions (Example JV
  Procurement)
• Combine good enough practices (benchmarks) with
  good enough fit (political economy, sequencing)
  
• Temper beliefs in magic of evidence based and
  indicator-driven policy approaches it sells,
  but not yet much evidence (sic!) that it works.