Report summary: The 2022 Berggruen Governance Index

This report is authored by Helmut K. Anheier, Adjunct Professor of Social Welfare and Public Policy, University of California, Los Angeles; and Professor of Sociology, Hertie School, Berlin, Germany; Markus Lang, Research Associate; and Edward Knudsen, Research Associate.

Report name

Toward a New Understanding of Governance: the 2022 Berggruen Governance Index

Who wrote this report?

The Berggruen Governance Index (BGI) measures the performance of 134 governments worldwide over 20 years to advance understanding of what makes governments successful at delivering high quality of life for their people. It does this by measuring governments in three ways: quality of democracy (how responsive they are to their people), quality of government (how efficient and competent they are in carrying out their plans), and quality of life (the resulting level of public goods like good education and a healthy environment). In this report, the BGI’s lead investigators share key findings from its 2022 edition, and insights for policymakers and other observers of global governance.

Best quote

Understanding governance as the interplay between democratic accountability, state capacity and public goods provision opens many avenues for research. The key to good governance is achieving a balance among the three dimensions on an upward and sustainable trajectory.

Key takeaways:

• Governance in Africa has improved enormously since 2000, with many nations on the continent experiencing strong growth across all three dimensions.
• The decline of democracy and state capacity in the United States is not a minor dip but is on par in scale with those of Hong Kong, Venezuela and other nations who have taken striking turns towards authoritarianism in recent years.
• Both democracy and state capacity are important for long-term quality of life. Nations with democracy but no state capacity will struggle to efficiently execute their well-intentioned plans, while those with state capacity but no democracy will have trouble keeping track of what their people need and want, and how to deliver it.

What’s in this report?

‘Toward a New Understanding of Governance: the 2022 Berggruen Governance Index’ shows and analyses findings from a quantitative assessment of 134 national governments over 20 years. A new approach to evaluating governance, the Berggruen Governance Index (BGI) measures nations on three dimensions representing the input, throughput, and output of the governing process: democratic accountability, state capacity, and quality of public goods. The report begins by highlighting how this multidimensional approach enables a more balanced view of government performance than past assessments, which tend to overemphasise or downplay the role of the state in ensuring well-being.

The report then highlights findings from the BGI, including top performers across each dimension, and assessing the aggregate performance of global regions. Notably, the index found increases across all dimensions in many African nations, while finding that the US is one of several backsliding democracies. Broader trends and specific insights for Europe, South and Southeast Asia, China, Russia, the Middle East and Latin America are also discussed. Finally, the report explores how democratic accountability and state capacity both have an important role in ensuring a nation’s high quality of life, a “virtuous cycle” called the Governance Triangle, with several practical and theoretical implications.

Why should you read this report?

You should read this report because it offers a highly vivid and comprehensive snapshot of governance around the world in the 21st century, providing stable metrics that can be compared across regions and time to reinforce or cut through popular narrative. And because it raises important new insights and questions as to the complex nuances of governance worldwide, which stakeholders anywhere can use to better understand the path their nation is on, and how it might change. Not only can you find the report here, but you can also work with the data directly on the ineractive site, analysing and comparing specific countries or regions.

Who is this report for?

This report is for anyone who seeks greater understanding in how governance works overtime, and how the different aspects of governance interact over the long term. The report can help policymakers better consider the impact of erstwhile narrow choices on their country’s broader development path and situate immediate public issues within a holistic view for how their country can develop and thrive through better governance in the years to come.

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