The Berggruen Governance Index Project (BGI) analyzes the relationship between democratic accountability, state capacity and the provision of public goods. It builds upon prior work that examined the impact of governance and democracy on the quality of life. It is a collaborative project between the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and the Berggruen Institute.
The 2024 Index consists of three major indices: Quality of Government, Quality of Democracy, and Quality of Life. All three contain more specific subindices, which are formed by aggregating individual indicators. Each index interacts with the other two to form the overall governance picture. Our analytical model sees Quality of Democracy as affecting both Quality of Life and Quality of Government, which in turn also shapes Quality of Life.
Last updated by source: 2025-12-08
| Dataset type: | Time-Series |
| Dataset level: | Country |
(bgi1?)
Coordination capacity concerns the ability of state institutions to organize collective action. This includes elite cohesion in relation to shared policy goals, under which bureaucratic coordination is possible.
More about this variableDemocratic accountability is the ability of a political system to allow citizens to hold government accountable. We distinguish between three types of accountability: institutional (horizontal), electoral (vertical), and societal (diagonal)
More about this variableDelivery capacity is the ability of government and public administration to deliver policies. In essence, this concerns conditions that enable 'street-level bureaucrats' to implement state goals on the ground.
More about this variableElectoral (vertical) accountability refers the range of actions and mechanisms that citizens can use to hold governments accountable. This includes organization in political parties and participation in free and fair elections
More about this variableEnvironmental public goods are public goods that are only continually available if states are able to conserve ecosystems and make sustainable water systems and energy sources affordable.
More about this variableWe conceptualize economic public goods provision with [six] concepts: 1) food security (measured using a food vulnerability index); 2) productive knowledge (measured via an economic complexity index); 3) vulnerable employment; 4) employment; 5) (access to) healthcare; 6) inequality reduction.
More about this variableMeasures the state's ability to extract revenue (taxation) and manage its budget effectively. We operationalize fiscal capacity with variables relating to 4 concepts: 1) actual tax revenue (1 variable); 2) tax administration (3 variables); 3) central bank reserves (population-adjusted); and 4) the percent of government expenses required for interest payments.
More about this variableInstitutional (horizontal) accountability concerns the ability of state institutions to control the government by requesting information, questioning public officials and punishing wrong behavior. The relevant state institutions are the legislature, the judiciary, and more specific oversight agencies such as ombudsmen, prosecutor and comptroller generals
More about this variablePublic goods are goods and services from which citizens of a state cannot be excluded... We distinguish between three types of public goods: social public goods, economic public goods and environmental public goods.
More about this variableSocietal (diagonal) accountability captures the extent to which civil society organizations and the media are able to hold the government accountable. The assumption is that informal mechanisms such as street-level mobilization and investigative journalism can increase institutional and electoral accountability.
More about this variableState capacity is the ability of the state to mobilize resources, enforce laws, and administer calls for collective action.
More about this variableSocial public goods are public goods that enable the population to live a healthy life and to acquire a basic education.
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