Global Governance Indices, Transparency and Right to Information

Since 1990s there has been a surge in various numerical assessments that rank countries with regards to their governance performance. Linking to the opening of global markets and new forms of global governance these international assessments have come to occupy the political agendas of countries, creating an imaginary of global economic competition. On the other hand, the indices are assessing countries in terms of administrative ethics and democratisation. Transparency has become a central concept in the international governance assessments. Its conceptualisation is ambiguous, covering economic (market transparency) and democratic (right to information) connotations alike. The paper examines how these two perspectives (democracy and efficiency) are present in the numerical observations, either as a measurable object in certain global indices or as a presupposition for the measurements altogether. I critically assess the economic perceptions of transparency in the global indices with regards to policy diffusion and democratisation.