Ranking the World Overthelastdecade,internationalrankingshaveemergedasacriticaltool usedbyinternationalactorsengagedinglobalgovernance.Statepractices and performance are now judged by a number of high-profile indices, includingassessmentsoftheirlevelsofcorruption,qualityofdemocracy, creditworthiness, media freedom, and business environment. However, these rankings always carry value judgments, methodological choices, and implicit political agendas. This volume expertly addresses the important analytical, normative, and policy issues associated with the contemporary practice of “grading states.” The chapters explore how rankingsaffectourperceptionsofstateperformance,howstatesreactto beingranked,whysomerankingsexertmoreglobalinfluencethanothers, and how states have come to strategize and respond to these public judgments.Thebookalsocriticallyexamineshowtreatingstaterankings like popular consumer choice indices may actually lead policymakers to internalize questionable normative assumptions and lead to poorer, not improved,publicpolicyoutcomes. alexandercooleyisProfessorofPoliticalScienceatBarnardCollege, ColumbiaUniversityinNewYorkandColumbia’sHarrimanInstitute.He haspublishedcommentariesandopinionsinleadingvenues,includingthe New York Times, Foreign Affairs, and Foreign Policy, and serves on a numberofinternationalcommittees,advisoryboards,andworkinggroups engagedinglobalgovernanceinthepost-Communistregion. jack snyder is the Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International RelationsinthePoliticalScienceDepartmentandtheHarrimanInstituteat ColumbiaUniversity.HeisaFellowoftheAmericanAcademyofArtsand Sciences and in 2012 received the International Security Studies DistinguishedScholarAwardoftheInternationalStudiesAssociation. Ranking the World Grading States as a Tool of Global Governance Editedby alexander cooley BarnardCollege and jack snyder ColumbiaUniversity UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learningandresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107098138 ©CambridgeUniversityPress2015 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2015 AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata Rankingtheworld:gradingstatesasatoolofglobalgovernance/editedby AlexanderCooleyandJackSnyder. pages cm ISBN978-1-107-09813-8(hardback) 1. Nation-stateandglobalization. 2. Internationalrelations–Statistics– Politicalaspects. 3. Internationaleconomicrelations–Statistics–Political aspects. 4. Worldpolitics–21stcentury. I. Cooley,Alexander,1972–editor ofcompilation. II. Snyder,JackL.,editorofcompilation. JZ1316.R36 2015 320.072–dc23 2014044750 ISBN978-1-107-09813-8Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication, anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. Contents Listoffigures pagevii Listoftables ix Listofcontributors x Prefaceandacknowledgments xi Listofabbreviations xiii 1 Theemergingpoliticsofinternationalrankingsandratings: Aframeworkforanalysis 1 alexander cooley 2 Justwhoputyouincharge?Wedid:CRAsandthepolitics ofratings 39 rawi abdelal and mark blyth 3 Corruptionrankings:Constructingandcontestingthe globalanti-corruptionagenda 60 mlada bukovansky 4 Measuringstateness,rankingpoliticalorders:Indicesof statefragilityandstatefailure 85 nehal bhuta 5 Lostinthegrayzone:Competingmeasuresofdemocracyin theformerSovietrepublics 112 seva gunitsky 6 Winningtherankingsgame:TheRepublicofGeorgia, USAID,andtheDoingBusinessProject 151 sam schueth 7 Conclusion–Ratingtheratingscraze:Fromconsumer choicetopublicpolicyoutcomes 178 jack snyder and alexander cooley v vi Contents Appendix1: Listofprominentrankingsandratings, categorizedaccordingtoissuearea 194 Appendix2: Comparingdemocracymeasureswithinthe formerSovietrepublics 204 References 213 Index 234 Figures 1.1 RROemergence,annual1990–2014,N=83 page10 1.2 MonthlymediacoverageofTransparencyInternational’s CPI,2012(Proquest) 23 5.1 Divergentpoliticaltrajectoriesinthepost-Sovietspace 113 5.2 TheunevendistributionofPolityscoressuggeststhe measuremaybecategoricalratherthancontinuous 124 5.3 Twomethodsofaggregatingcontestationand inclusivenessintoasinglemeasure 126 5.4 AdjustingtheEIUscoreforredundantsub-components 129 5.5 Distributionoforiginal(a)andmodified(b)EIUscores 130 5.6 Relationshipbetweenelectionqualityandoverall democraticquality 131 5.7 Therelationshipbetweenelectionqualityandpercentage turnout 132 5.8 Measuresensitivity:averagemagnitudeofannualchanges inscoresforeachmeasure,comparedtotheproportionof country-yearsinwhichachangewasrecorded 135 5.9 ComparisonsofFreedomHouseandPolityIVevaluations ofdemocracyintheformerSovietrepublics,1991–2010 136 5.10 ComparingassessmentsofdemocracyinKazakhstan 138 5.11 Disagreementamongmeasuresbyregimetype 139 5.12 Disagreementamongmeasuresbycountry 140 5.13 AverageregionalmeasuresofdemocracyinformerSoviet republicsforfivedifferentindices,1991–2010 141 5.14 AveragelevelofdemocracyintheformerSovietrepublics, asaproportionoftheaveragelevelofdemocracyin EasternEurope 141 5.15 EvaluationsofdemocraticqualityinArmeniabyFreedom HouseandPolityIV 143 5.16 EvaluationsofdemocraticqualityinRussiabyFreedom HouseandPolityIV 145 vii viii Listoffigures 5.17 AssessmentofdemocracyinRussiausingsixdifferent measures 148 6.1 Scattergramof2009DBIandGCIpercentileranksfor 134states 160 6.2 AmountofdevelopmentassistanceandFDIreceivedby Georgiaannually 162