Transcript World Bank Governance - Dipartimento di Scienze sociali e

Sustainable Governance
Indicators
Keryn Paviour-Smith
Wednesday 6 June, 2012
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Agenda
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Introduction
Approach and Methodology
SGI Ranking 2011
Status Index
Management Index
Social Justice Index
Conclusions
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Introduction - starting point for SGI
• All developed industrial countries face several
major reform challenges in 21st century:
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Economic globalization;
Climate change;
Resource depletion;
Aging societies;
Immigration;
Security threats.
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Introduction - history of SGI
• Bertelsmann Stiftung Sustainable Governance Indicators (SGI)
• Started in 2009
• Updated every 2 or 3 years
• Ranks SGI in 31 member states in the OECD
• Ranks on a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Ranks along two main indices:
 Status Index
 Management Index
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Agenda
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Introduction
Approach and Methodology
SGI Ranking 2011
Status Index
Management Index
Social Justice Index
Conclusions
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Approach and methodology – combines
empirical and qualitative data
• SGI are based on sound data capture and
aggregation methods.
• SGI comprise a combination of qualitative and
quantitative data.
• Pairs “objective” quantitative data with “highly
context-sensitive”, qualitative expert
assessments.
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SGI Methodology
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Approach and methodology - SGI incorporates a
two tiered system of measuring reform.....
Status Index
Management Index
Dimensions
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Categories
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Criteria
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Indicators/Items
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Of which: expert assessments
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Quantitative Indicators
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Status Index
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Management Index
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Approach and methodology
• Each policy area is evaluated by experts for each country.
• Have selected performance indicators that:
 Are not ambiguous;
 Are available for all OECD countries.
• Tries to avoid including model-specific indicators that might be seen as
being biased in favour of particular types of economies.
• SGI tries to provide a composite image of a country’s performance
across various policy areas.
• Status Index also includes a few indicators that describe changes over
time rather than levels (e.g. inflation rate).
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Agenda
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Introduction
Approach and Methodology
SGI Ranking 2011
Status Index
Management Index
Social Justice Index
Conclusions
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Distribution of OECD Countries surveyed
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SGI Ranking 2011
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Overview of the findings
• Top rankings of the Status Index are dominated by
northern European countries.
• However leading group also includes New Zealand and
Switzerland, two nations with different political and
state welfare traditions.
• The group of mid-range scorers (Canada, Australia,
Germany, Iceland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, USA,
Ireland, Great Britain, Belgium, Austria, Czech Republic,
France, Portugal, Japan, Chile, Spain, and Poland) and
the lowest-ranking group (South Korea, Italy, Slovakia,
Mexico, Greece, and Turkey) are geographically and
culturally just as heterogeneous as the top group.
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Agenda
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Introduction
Methodology
SGI Ranking 2011
Status Index
Management Index
Social Index
Conclusions
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Status Index - approach
• The Status Index aims to compare :
 Quality of Democracy;
 Policy Performance.
• Presumed that a high quality of democracy is
necessary for the long-term stability of a
political system and sustainable policies.
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Quality of Democracy vs. Policy Performance
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Quality of Democracy - findings
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Norway, Sweden, New Zealand and Finland receive top scores on quality of
democracy.
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Membership in the European Union seems to exert a positive influence on the
protection of civil rights: Hungary, Italy, Slovakia and Greece score better here
than South Korea, Mexico and Turkey.
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The main shortcomings of Turkish policy are restrictions on freedom of
assembly and opinion.
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But also in Hungary and Italy the civil rights of ethnic minorities are
inadequately protected.
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Among the lower ranking countries, there is a real deficit in the rule of law
(e.g. Mexico and Greece).
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Preventing and fighting corruption – especially within the legal system – is
among the central challenges for all countries in the lower ranking group.
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Policy Performance - findings
• The largest financial and economic crisis seen in the post-war period left
none of the surveyed countries unscathed.
• Following the banking crisis policy has been shaped more by short-term
crisis management than by structural reforms.
• In addition to large economic stimulus programs and the stabilization of
the banking sector, the political response included state intervention in
the economy.
• Countries that set the right priorities and decisively implemented
necessary reforms have been able to stabilize trust in politics and the
economy.
• Policymakers must not lose sight of the long-term horizon.
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Economy and Employment - findings
• Ireland and Iceland were especially hard hit by the
economic and financial crisis.
• On employment indicators the picture is mixed:
Canada, Australia and the Netherlands still have
relatively low unemployment rates despite the crisis.
• Iceland, Ireland, Great Britain and the USA have
enjoyed above-average labour market performance but
have seen a spike in unemployment during the crisis.
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Economy and Employment – findings (cont’d)
• Germany is a special case, since its previously
high unemployment numbers fell continuously
even during the crisis.
• In most countries, unemployment remains at
a relatively high level, with Turkey
experiencing the most severe unemployment
among the 31 OECD nations
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Social Affairs - findings
• Again the Northern European countries take the
lead in social inclusion and child care facilities.
• However they are characterized by aboveaverage tax burdens.
• So far the Scandanavian countries have managed
to defend their prosperity despite their extensive
welfare states and high taxes.
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Internal and External Security - findings
• Again the Scandanavian countries score well here
with the exception of Denmark......
• On security policy the USA score is low due to its
above average crime rate and military
involvement in Iraq & Afghanistan
• Mexico also has some internal security problems
due to a high crime rate and unreliable police
forces
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Resources - findings
• Overall Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark,
Germany and Japan lead this category.
• In particular Germany and Great Britain have
established themselves as pioneers in new
environmental instruments.
• In terms of environmental sustainability the USA
is at the bottom of the rankings, although it leads
the OECD nations in research and development.
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Research & Innovation
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Status Index – learning from the best
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Significant strengths and weaknesses of OECD countries.
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Countries with strong quality of democracy score better than the rest of the OECD
countries on most areas of policy.
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Close relationship between the two dimensions can be observed: the better the
quality of a country’s democratic structures, the more likely it is to achieve
sustainable reform policies.
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Focus on similar policy areas in recent years:
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Pension reform towards strengthening private pensions and increasing working life;
Improving compatibility of family and career.
• Still need improvement in:
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Research and development;
Sustainability in environmental and education policy;
Integration policy;
Fiscal policy.
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Agenda
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Introduction
Approach and Methodology
SGI Ranking 2011
Status Index
Management Index
Social Justice Index
Conclusions
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Executive Capacity and Executive Accountability
- approach
• Executive Capacity looks at strategic planning,
consultation and communication as well as
capacity for implementation and learning.
• Executive Accountability looks at the capacity
of citizens, legislatures, special interest groups
and media participation in the political
process.
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Executive Capacity vs. Executive Accountability
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Executive Capacity and Executive Accountability
- findings
• Again the Management indicators are lead by Norway
and Sweden.....followed by Demark, Finland, New
Zealand and Australia.
• Again no particular system type is favoured.
• Bringing up the rear are Greece and Slovakia. Both
countries trail Italy (in 29th position) by almost a point.
• New member Chile stands out positively, already
scoring higher than some established OECD countries.
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Executive Capacity and Executive Accountability
- findings (cont’d)
• A closer look at both Executive Capacity and
Executive Accountability is necessary in order to
understand what’s really going on in a
country.......
• Certain countries obtain almost identical scores
on the two dimensions (Australia, Ireland, Japan)
• But others show wide discrepancies between the
two.....(Canada, France, Mexico stand out here)
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Steering Capability
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Management Index - learning from the best
• Quality of political steering varies widely among OECD nations.
• There are pronounced differences between strategic steering
capability as well as the capacity to include the knowledge and
demands of citizens.
• Top ranking countries show some similarities in the style of
governing:
 Countries that review their structures and processes and adjust them
are better at strategic action and implementation of reform;
 Countries that do not seek to improve by changing their institutions
score low.
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Agenda
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Introduction
Approach and Methodology
SGI Ranking 2011
Status Index
Management Index
Social Justice Index
Conclusions
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Social Justice in the OECD
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Social Justice Index - findings
• Northern Europe again leads the way.
• Despite it’s overall high average Sweden is facing high youth
unemployment, which is 3 times the average unemployment rate.
• Most central, north-western, and east-central European countries
are in the mid-range.
• Poland lags behind the others due to pronounced deficits in access
to the labour market.
• Southern European countries all rank significantly below the OECD
average.
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Agenda
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Introduction
Approach and Methodology
SGI Ranking 2011
Status Index
Management Index
Social Justice Index
Conclusions
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Conclusion
• The SGI is the most thorough cross-national
survey of governance in the OECD.
• The project identifies reform needs and
highlights forward-looking practices.
• It tries to encourage debate on “good
governance”.....and to help us “learn from the
world”.
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Thank you
Any questions?
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