The Power of Global Performance Indicators. This item is unavailable.The Power of Global Performance Indicators

Global performance indicators (GPIs), such as ratings and rankings, permeate nearly every type of human activity, internationally and nationally, across public and private spheres. While some indicators aim to attract media readership or brand the creator's organization, others increasingly seek to influence political practices and policies. The Power of Global Performance Indicators goes beyond the basic questions of methodological validity explored by others to launch a fresh debate about power in the modern age, exploring the ultimate questions concerning real-world consequences of GPIs, both intended and unintended. From business regulation to terrorism, education to foreign aid, Kelley and Simmons demonstrate how GPIs provoke bureaucracies, shape policy agendas, and influence outputs through their influence of third parties such as donors and market actors and, potentially, even broader global authority structures.

Judith Kelley is a Professor and Dean of the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, North Carolina. She is the author of Scorecard Diplomacy: Grading States to Influence their Reputation and Behavior (Cambridge, 2017), and Monitoring Democracy: When International Election Observation Works and Why It Often Fails (2012), winner of the Chadwick F. Alger Prize.

Beth Simmons is a Professor of Law, Political Science and Business Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of Mobilizing for Human Rights: International Law in Domestic Politics (2009), recognized by the American Society for International Law, among others, as the best book of 2010.