Governance is notoriously difficult to measure – yet numerous global indices attempt to do so. SAIIA’s new paper tracks the governance progress of 52 African countries through various indices, 17 of which have undergone a holistic governance peer-review.
Bad governance – political, economic, corporate and social – remains a challenge for many countries and is a blockage to development. But certain African countries are making major strides forward.
‘The State of Governance in Africa: What Indices Tell Us’ uses data from the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance to track progress (or lack thereof) between 2003 (when the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) was established) and 2015 (the latest set of data available at the time of writing). Supporting data from Freedom House’s Freedom in the World Index, The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index, the Heritage Foundation’s Economic Freedom Index and the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index is used where necessary.
To provide an overview of the results in 90 seconds, we ambushed our Governance programme manager Yarik Turianskyi over coffee.
