RCN: Reshaping Global Governance through Indicators: A Collaborative International Network for Empirical Research

排名和其他量化指标在国际和国家治理中发挥着越来越大的作用。指标包括法治、腐败、健康、劳动规制、自由、国家效率、企业社会责任、文化等多种现象。然而，尽管在指标的颁布、使用和争论上投入了大量资源，但令人惊讶的是，人们对这种转向指标对全球监管和权力行使的影响知之甚少。在全球或跨国治理实践中指标的使用方面，缺乏对这些问题的研究尤其引人注目，因为这些指标与国家外权力有关。一些全球指标对发展援助的分配或投资决策有直接影响，但大多数有间接影响，影响许多不同行为者和公众的知识和决定。为了了解全球治理指标对权力关系的影响及其对行为、话语和争论的影响，本研究协调网络汇集了来自不同国家的学者，以个人和集体的方式参与这一问题。在未来三年，研究协调网络将利用一系列研讨会来建立新的研究成果，以便为理解指标如何在全球治理中发挥作用制定更广泛的理论框架。由于参与者多为青年学者，因此该项目将研究和理论发展与美国和国际学者的培训和指导相结合。学者们的学科训练不同，但研究方法和研究重点是一致的。跨学科指导委员会由人类学和国际法的学者组成。从最初的学者群体开始，该网络将随着时间的推移而扩大，纳入来自多个国家和学科的对这一问题感兴趣的更广泛的学者。

Rankings and other quantitative indicators now occupy a growing role in international as well as national governance. Indicators describe such diverse phenomena as rule of law, corruption, health, labor regulation, freedom, state effectiveness, corporate social responsibility, and culture. Yet despite the resources invested in the promulgation, use and contestation of indicators, surprisingly little is known about the effects of this turn to indicators on global regulation and the exercise of power. The lack of study of these issues is particularly striking in relation to the use of indicators in global or transnational governance practices where indicators are linked to extra-state power. Some global indicators have direct effects in the allocation of development aid or investment decisions, but most have indirect effects, influencing knowledge and the decisions of many different actors and publics. In order to understand the implications of global governance indicators for power relations and their influence on behavior, discourse, and contestation, this Research Coordination Network draws together scholars from a variety of countries to individually and collectively engage this problem. In the next three years, the Research Coordination Network will use a series of seminars to build new research findings in order to develop a broader theoretical framework for understanding how indicators act in global governance. The participants are mostly junior scholars, so this project combines research and theory development with training and mentoring of US and international scholars. The scholars differ in their disciplinary training but share a common approach and research focus. The interdisciplinary steering committee joins scholars in anthropology and international law. Building from the initial group of scholars, the network will expand over time to incorporate a broader range of scholars interested in the issue from several countries and disciplines.