Transnational Governance by Numbers: Rankings as Mechanisms of Governing

Quantitative knowledge plays an increasing role in transnational governance, even when not explicitly part of formal processes of decision making. This study consists of five research articles that individually and together deal with the subtle ways by which socio-political quantification influence governance and politics. Rather than looking at the direct impact a specific ranking has on a particular policy or set of policies, the articles focus on processes that precede and frame individual and institutional decision making and conduct. As such, this research aligns with certain variants of new institutionalist literature, the theory of interactive governance and the idea of metagovernance (Torfing et al. 2011), and with the Foucault-inspired studies in governmentality.

The empirical cases - democracy and good governance, and higher education policies and university autonomy - demonstrate how quantification constitutes (1) knowledge in setting the parameters within the limits of which a concept, idea, domain, empirical fact or a policy prescription comes to be understood collectively; (2) identities in individualizing social units, making them appear separate, self-sufficient, responsible and competitive; (3) authority in transferring legitimacy to the participants of the numbers industry, bestowing on them an aura of expertise, or to those who numbers present in a favorable light. Comparative rankings tell us what the world is like, who we are, what we should accomplish, how we can reach our objectives, and who we should look up to.

In addition to shedding light on and systematizing the ways in which quantification functions as a mechanism of governing, the empirical cases build up evidence for arguing that the contemporary trend for quantification - manifest in the proliferation of demands for evidence-based policy making, managerial reforms in national public administration and supranational efforts to produce accessible knowledge for various purposes - is often premised on an atomistic social ontology that reinforces the ideology of competition and supports economistic problem setting and policy solutions. Whether or not one likes the role quantification plays in governing, there is no doubt that the analysis of socio-political quantification forms an important aspect of governance research, which the articles in this thesis strongly confirm.