Much of the appeal of performance measurement is explained by its image as a simple and value-neutral way to monitor and improve government. But contemporary governance is characterized by complexity. Few public officials have the luxury of directly providing relatively simple services, the context in which performance regimes work best. Instead, they must work in the context of a disarticulate...

Abstract One of the most fundamental assumptions of democratic theory is that the views of citizens should influence government policy decisions. Previous studies have found a strong cross-sectional relationship between public opinion and state policy outputs. But the ultimate test of responsiveness is the extent to which changes in popular preferences cause changes in public policies. In this ...

A S WALL STREET TRACKS THE HEALTH OF AMERICAN BUSIness by monitoring indicators of economic productivity, so must scientists, parents, and taxpayers heed leading indicators of scientific productivity. Since mathematics is the foundation discipline for science, the state of mathematics education is a crucial predictor of future national strength in science and technology. Evidence suggests that ...

The major predecessor to Ringen's and my own efforts to measure democratic quality in terms of the purpose of democracy is Robert Dahl's seminal book Polyarchy (1971). Measuring the quality of democracy requires two prior judgments: (1) making sure that, in terms of institutional characteristics, a country is sufficiently democratic, and that, as a minimum, it has universal suffrage, and (2) th...

One key paradigmatic subtext of Naomi Klein’s argument runs in her The Shock Doctrine (London: Penguin, 2008) is how the supposed undemocratic, violent character of ‘‘totalitarian’’ Marxist movements serve to justify repressive measures by the neo-liberal state. In inviting such a repressive response from the state, ‘‘undemocratic’’ revolutionary left movements are presented as causing the eros...

across Eastern Europe, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa, scholars have begun to explore how democratic changes affect women. Like other analyses of gender and the state (Brush 2003; Eisenstein 1988; MacKinnon 1989; Orloff 1996; Pateman 1988), these studies examine how states create and govern gender relations among their citizens through institutions, laws, and legal discourses (Jaquette a...