The Quiet Power of Indicators

The Quiet Power of Indicators

Author: Sally Engle Merry

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2015-05-19

Total Pages: 373

ISBN-13: 1316299597

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Using a power-knowledge framework, this volume critically investigates how major global indicators of legal governance are produced, disseminated and used, and to what effect. Original case studies include Freedom House's Freedom in the World indicator, the Global Reporting Initiative's structure for measuring and reporting on corporate social responsibility, the World Justice Project's measurement of the rule of law, the World Bank's Doing Business index, the World Bank-supported Worldwide Governance Indicators, the World Bank's Country Performance Institutional Assessment (CPIA), and the Transparency International Corruption (Perceptions) index. Also examined is the use of performance indicators by the European Union for accession countries and by the US Millennium Challenge Corporation in allocating US aid funds.


The Quiet Power of Indicators

The Quiet Power of Indicators

Author: Sally Engle Merry

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2015-05-26

Total Pages: 373

ISBN-13: 1107075203

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This highly accessible book investigates the rankings that increasingly influence perceptions of countries' governance and civil rights.


The Seductions of Quantification

The Seductions of Quantification

Author: Sally Engle Merry

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2016-06-10

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 022626131X

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We live in a world where seemingly everything can be measured. We rely on indicators to translate social phenomena into simple, quantified terms, which in turn can be used to guide individuals, organizations, and governments in establishing policy. Yet counting things requires finding a way to make them comparable. And in the process of translating the confusion of social life into neat categories, we inevitably strip it of context and meaning—and risk hiding or distorting as much as we reveal. With The Seductions of Quantification, leading legal anthropologist Sally Engle Merry investigates the techniques by which information is gathered and analyzed in the production of global indicators on human rights, gender violence, and sex trafficking. Although such numbers convey an aura of objective truth and scientific validity, Merry argues persuasively that measurement systems constitute a form of power by incorporating theories about social change in their design but rarely explicitly acknowledging them. For instance, the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report, which ranks countries in terms of their compliance with antitrafficking activities, assumes that prosecuting traffickers as criminals is an effective corrective strategy—overlooking cultures where women and children are frequently sold by their own families. As Merry shows, indicators are indeed seductive in their promise of providing concrete knowledge about how the world works, but they are implemented most successfully when paired with context-rich qualitative accounts grounded in local knowledge.


Designing Indicators for a Plural Legal World

Designing Indicators for a Plural Legal World

Author: Siddharth Peter de Souza

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2022-09-30

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1316514897

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It pluralises the conversation around legal indicators by considering the diversity of law and legal institutions in the Global South.


The Power of Global Performance Indicators

The Power of Global Performance Indicators

Author: Judith G. Kelley

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-03-19

Total Pages: 453

ISBN-13: 1108487203

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Shows how global ratings and rankings shape political agendas and influence states' behavior, reframing how we think about power.


The Palgrave Handbook of Indicators in Global Governance

The Palgrave Handbook of Indicators in Global Governance

Author: Debora Valentina Malito

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-11-27

Total Pages: 542

ISBN-13: 3319627074

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This volume brings together both academic and institutional perspectives to examine the production, use and contestation of indicators in global governance. It provides a unique and comprehensive guide to the latest research in the study of indicators and their use in global governance and policy making. The editors provide a guide to the recent vast body of literature and practice on measuring governance and measurement as governance at the global level, and present a state-of-the-art analysis of social science research on indicators at both the transnational and the global level. The Handbook brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines and perspectives, as well as policy-makers from international organisations and non-government organisations working in the field. This volume will be a valuable resource for students and academics in the fields of public policy, administration and management, international relations, political science, law, and globalisation, as well as policy makers and practitioners.


Southernising Criminology

Southernising Criminology

Author: Luiz Dal Santo

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-06-03

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 1040035450

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This book introduces the ‘Southern criminology’ movement; explores its theoretical, methodological, and philosophical tools; offers analytical accounts on the development of criminological thoughts in marginalised regions; and showcases the cutting edge of criminological research from Southern settings. Southernising Criminology is structured into three parts. The first part provides theoretical and methodological insights into how criminology can be Southernised, including renowned social scientists who share concerns for the need to reconceptualise the centre, the periphery, and their relations. The second part brings the reader up-to-date with the state of criminological research in different parts of the world and how far this landscape has changed when introducing Southern perspectives. The third part shows first-hand examples of how Southern criminology is done, with its challenges and transformative potential for criminological knowledge. Bringing together contributions from leading scholars working across the five continents and drawing on issues such as state criminality, violent crime, criminal justice practices, and state and non-state punishment, this book offers a critical account of the problems of metropolitan thinking, colonial and imperial power relations, and Western ethnocentric approaches to criminology. It offers a nuanced and grounded reflection on how things are being done differently and why that is important. An accessible and compelling read, this book will appeal to students and scholars of criminology, sociology, politics, and policy makers from around the world who are interested in the field of criminology and are aware of the urgent need for it to be decolonised and democratised.


The Complexity of Human Rights

The Complexity of Human Rights

Author: Philip Alston

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2024-02-08

Total Pages: 303

ISBN-13: 1509972889

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This book provides the first systematic assessment from a human rights law perspective of the landmark contributions of the renowned legal anthropologist, Sally Engle Merry. What impact does over-simplification have on human rights debates? The understandable tendency to present them as a single, universal, and immutable concept ignores their complexity and by extension only serves to weaken them. Merry and her colleagues transformed human rights thinking by highlighting the process of 'vernacularization', which sees rights discourse as being unavoidably dependent upon translation and interpretation. She also warned of the pitfalls of excessive reliance upon statistical and other indicators, through the process of quantification. Here the leading voices in the field assess the significance of these contributions.


Comparative Methods in Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

Comparative Methods in Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

Author: Adams, Maurice

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2021-11-19

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1802201467

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This cutting-edge book facilitates debate amongst scholars in law, humanities and social sciences, where comparative methodology is far less well anchored in most areas compared to other research methods. It posits that these are disciplines in which comparative research is not simply a bonus, but is of the essence.


Worlds of Rankings

Worlds of Rankings

Author: Leopold Ringel

Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing

Published: 2021-07-22

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 1801171076

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This volume contains an Open Access Chapter. This volume explores the distinct allure of rankings in diverse empirical settings such as healthcare, the IT sector, the arts, professional sports, anti-slavery advocacy, the pharma industry, and educational governance.