The Quality of Local Governance: A Critical Review of Current Assessment Models

In theory, measuring the quality of local governance could have two main positive outcomes. First, it could enable citizens to perform better monitoring and allow them to factor in that information when assessing the performance of their political representatives, Second, it could allow researchers to carry out empirical research into the drivers and impacts of good governance. However, attempts to quantify such a complex and dynamic process can also entail serious risks. Currently, it is still unclear whether such efforts can render a positive trade-off between the benefits and drawbacks of measurement (and under what conditions). This Paper contributes to the on going discussion by presenting a thorough review of the models used to assess (at least a certain aspect of) the quality of local governance. These approaches, used by empirical and applied research, are then compared against the guidelines set forth by the theoretical literature on methods from several disciplines.