British International Studies Association Review of International Studies Special Issue: The Politics of Numbers Guest Editors: André Broome and Joel Quirk VOLUME 41 | ISSUE 5 | DECEMBER 2015 Editors Kimberly Hutchings Mathias Albert George Lawson ISSN 0260-2105 Jennifer Sterling-Folker Review of International Studies Editors Kimberly Hutchings (Lead Editor), Queen Mary George Lawson, London School of Economics and University of London Political Science Mathias Albert, University of Bielefeld Jennifer Sterling-Folker, University of Connecticut Editorial Board Milja Kurki, Aberystwyth University Tarak Barkawi, London School of Economics and Political Catherine Lu, McGill University Science Craig N. Murphy, Wellesley College Janice Bially Mattern, National University of Singapore Lara J. Nettelfi eld, Royal Holloway, University of London Nick Bisley, La Trobe University Iver B. Neumann, London School of Economics and William Brown, Open University Political Science Barry Buzan, London School of Economics and Political Inderjeet Parmar, City University Science Oliver Richmond, University of Manchester Charli Carpenter, University of Massachusetts-Amherst Justin Rosenberg, University of Sussex Steve Chan, University of Colorado Leonard Seabrooke, Copenhagen Business School Robert A. Denemark, University of Delaware Laura Shepherd, University of New South Wales Thomas Diez, University of Tu¨bingen Laura Sjoberg, University of Florida Toni Erskine, Aberystwyth University Stephan Stetter, University of Munich Lene Hansen, University of Copenhagen Hidemi Suganami, Aberystwyth University Gunther Hellmann, University of Frankfurt Jeffrey W. Taliaferro, Tufts University Patrick Thaddeus Jackson, American University Andrew Walter, University of Melbourne Oliver Kessler, University of Erfurt Michael C. 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DECEMBER 2015 Lead Editor: Professor Kimberly Hutchings, Queen Mary University of London Co-editors: Professor Mathias Albert, University of Bielefeld Dr George Lawson, London School of Economics and Political Science Professor Jennifer Sterling-Folker, University of Connecticut CONTENTS ARTICLES The politics of numbers: the normative agendas of global benchmarking 813 ANDRÉ BROOME AND JOEL QUIRK Governing the world at a distance: the practice of global benchmarking 819 ANDRÉ BROOME AND JOEL QUIRK Human security benchmarks: Governing human wellbeing at a distance 843 ALEXANDRA HOMOLAR Global benchmarking networks: the cases of disaster risk reduction and supply chains 865 TONY PORTER How activists use benchmarks: Reformist and revolutionary benchmarks for global economic justice 887 LEONARD SEABROOKE AND DUNCAN WIGAN Benchmarking global supply chains: the power of the ‘ethical audit’ regime 905 GENEVIEVE LEBARON AND JANE LISTER Addressing the compliance gap? UN initiatives to benchmark the human rights performance of states and corporations 925 JAMES HARRISON AND SHARIFAH SEKALALA Benchmarking and blame games: Exploring the contestation of the Millennium Development Goals 947 LIAM CLEGG Climate change benchmarking: Constructing a sustainable future? 969 CAROLINE KUZEMKO The limits of global authority: World Bank benchmarks in Ethiopia and Malawi 993 OLE JACOB SENDING AND JON HARALD SANDE LIE Review of International Studies (2015), 41, 813–818 © 2015 British International Studies Association doi:10.1017/S0260210515000339 The politics of numbers: the normative agendas of global benchmarking ANDRÉ BROOME AND JOEL QUIRK* Abstract. Global benchmarks have grown exponentially over the last two decades, having been both applied to and developed by states, international organisations, corporations, and non-governmental organisations. As a consequence, global benchmarking is now firmly established as a distinct mode of transnational governance. Benchmarking chieflyinvolvesthe development of comparative metrics of performance, which typically take the form of highly stylised comparisons which are generated by translating complex phenomena into numerical values via simplification and extrapolation, commensuration, reification, and symbolic judgements. This process of translation takes what might otherwise be highly contentious normative agendas and converts them into formats that gain credibility through rhetorical claims to neutral and technocratic assessment. This politics of numbers has far-reaching ramifications for transnational governance, including the dimensions and effects of indirect power, expertise and agenda-setting, coordination, regulation and certification, and norm contestation and activism. This Special Issue draws upon an emerging literature to explore how and why benchmarks both align with and expand upon established models of International Relations theory and scholarship. It does so by critically examining the role of global benchmarks in key areas such as state ‘failure’, global supply chains, disaster management, economic governance, corporate social responsibility, and human development. André Broome is Associate Professor of International Political Economy in the Department of Politics and International Studies and is Director of the Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation, University of Warwick. His publications include The Currency of Power (Palgrave, 2010) and Issues and Actors in the Global Political Economy (Palgrave, 2014). Joel Quirk is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Studies, University of the Witwatersrand. His publications include The Anti-Slavery Project (Penn, 2011) and Mobility Makes States (Penn, 2015). Joel is a current member of the International ScientificCommittee of the UNESCO Slave Route Project, and is also an openDemocracy editor for Beyond Trafficking and Slavery. The political appeal of numbers In November 2014, the Walk Free Foundation launched the second edition of their flagship Global Slavery Index. The press release for the launch declared the index to be ‘the most accurate and comprehensive measure of the extent and risk of modern slavery’, building upon an ‘improved methodology’ which included random-sample * As editors of this Special Issue, we are grateful for feedback on earlier versions of all of the articles from participants at the ‘Benchmarking in Global Governance’ Research Workshop, University of Warwick, 12–14 March 2014. We are also grateful for financial support from GR:EEN, European Commission Project Number: 266809, the Global Research Priority in Global Governance, the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick, and a Warwick International Partnership Award with the University of the Witwatersrand on ‘Benchmarking in Global Governance’. 813 814 André Broome and Joel Quirk surveys from 19 countries.1