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A Race to the Top? The Aid Transparency Index and the Social Power of Global Performance Indicators

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  • Honig, Dan
  • Weaver, Catherine

Abstract

Recent studies on global performance indicators (GPIs) reveal the distinct power that nonstate actors can accrue and exercise in world politics. How and when does this happen? Using a mixed-methods approach, we examine the impact of the Aid Transparency Index (ATI), an annual rating and rankings index produced by the small UK-based NGO Publish What You Fund. The ATI seeks to shape development aid donors' behavior with respect to their transparency—the quality and kind of information they publicly disclose. To investigate the ATI's effect, we construct an original panel data set of donor transparency performance before and after ATI inclusion (2006–2013) to test whether (and which) donors alter their behavior in response to inclusion in the ATI. To further probe the causal mechanisms that explain variations in donor behavior we use qualitative research, including over 150 key informant interviews conducted between 2010 and 2017. Our analysis uncovers the conditions under which the ATI influences powerful aid donors. Our mixed-methods evidence reveals how this happens. Consistent with Kelley and Simmons's central argument that GPIs exercise influence via social pressure, we find that the ATI shapes donor behavior primarily via direct effects on elites: the diffusion of professional norms, organizational learning, and peer pressure.

Suggested Citation

  • Honig, Dan & Weaver, Catherine, 2019. "A Race to the Top? The Aid Transparency Index and the Social Power of Global Performance Indicators," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 73(3), pages 579-610, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:intorg:v:73:y:2019:i:03:p:579-610_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Tobias Heinrich & Yoshiharu Kobayashi, 2022. "Evaluating explanations for poverty selectivity in foreign aid," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(1), pages 30-47, February.
    2. Indra Overland & Anatoli Bourmistrov & Brigt Dale & Stephanie Irlbacher‐Fox & Javlon Juraev & Eduard Podgaiskii & Florian Stammler & Stella Tsani & Roman Vakulchuk & Emma C. Wilson, 2021. "The Arctic Environmental Responsibility Index: A method to rank heterogenous extractive industry companies for governance purposes," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1623-1643, May.
    3. Bernhard Reinsberg & Haley Swedlund, 2023. "How transparent are aid agencies to their citizens? Introducing the Citizen Aid Transparency Dataset," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(7), pages 2177-2212, October.
    4. Asif Efrat & Omer Yair, 2023. "International rankings and public opinion: Compliance, dismissal, or backlash?," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 607-629, October.
    5. Ben Cormier, 2023. "Chinese or western finance? Transparency, official credit flows, and the international political economy of development," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 297-328, April.
    6. Steffen Eckhard & Vytautas Jankauskas & Elena Leuschner & Ian Burton & Tilman Kerl & Rita Sevastjanova, 2023. "The performance of international organizations: a new measure and dataset based on computational text analysis of evaluation reports," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 753-776, October.

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