How do we Measure (Successful) Global Leadership?

A discussion with Robert Bosch Senior Vice President Henry Alt-Haaker on Stimson's Global Governance Index

Featuring  Richard Ponzio

This interview was originally published in Robert Bosch Stiftung.

The rules-based international order is under great pressure. Climate change, technological change, pandemics, and shifts in economic, political, military, and demographic power demand governmental and civil society engagement to develop sustainable solutions. The Global Governance Index (GGI) is an attempt, unprecedented in the G7 and BRICS countries, to assess governments’ international regulatory engagement – and to measure how the public relates to it. The index is to be presented at the Robert Bosch Foundation in Berlin on July 6.

The index is a novel project. What are the key findings of the Global Governance Index and what do you see as its most important impact?

The Global Governance Index (or GGI) is the first-ever attempt to measure and compare, in a composite way, the ability and inclination of countries to manage public goods and tackle global challenges through multilateral institutions. Specifically, we rate the global leadership of the G7 and BRICS countries. These account for nearly two-thirds of global GDP and half of the world’s population.

In terms of key findings, Germany earned the highest score among the twelve countries in the full composite GGI, with a score of 6.53 out of 10, and Russia earned the lowest, with a score of 4.29.

Germany scored highest in three of the five domains: namely, socioeconomic development, human rights, and global collective action and citizenship. It also never ranked lower than third place in the two other categories. Conversely, Russia ranked last in two domains: environmental governance and climate action, as well as global collective action, citizenship, and leadership), and it never ranked higher than the bottom three in the other three domains. The only domain not yet mentioned, international peace, security, and humanitarian action, was topped by a somewhat unexpected country – India., host of this year’s G20-Summit.

Read the full interview here.

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