Full faith in credit? The power of numbers in rating frontier sovereigns and the global governance of development by the UNDP

摘要

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the oldest dedicated development institution in the multilateral system, yet it remains one of the smallest in terms of funding and resources. This belies its central role in contributing to the rankings, benchmarks and ratings that have defined the process of development for states, non-governmental organisations and the private sector. The UNDP created the Human Development Report (HDR) and Human Development Index (HDI), coordinates the benchmarks of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and has recently partnered with Standard and Poor's (S&P) in devising sovereign credit ratings for developing countries. In this regard, mobilising numbers in support of development strategies is not new; yet, as this paper argues, the UNDP's development policy has seen a significant shift from the qualitative analysis presented in the HDR to the quantitative nature of credit rating. This paper will adopt a governmentality approach in looking at sovereign credit rating and analysing how the power of numbers informs the rationality underpinning the partnership between the UNDP and the rating agency S&P. It concludes that while pursuing sovereign credit rating may be seen as 'capacity development' for the UNDP, it in fact represents a shift by the organisation towards quantitative practices that have particular consequences for the global governance of development.