Indicators of Democracy: The Politics and Promise of Evaluation Expertise in Mexico

The spread of democracy across the global south has taken many different forms, but certain features are consistent: implementing a system of elections and an overarching mission of serving the will and well-being of a country's citizens. But how do we hold politicians accountable for such a mission? How are we to understand the efficacy of the policies they put forth? In Indicators of Democracy Diana Graizbord exposes the complex, often-hidden world of the institutions and infrastructures that are meant to ensure a democracy's transparency and are charged with the task of holding leaders and initiatives accountable for the ideals they claim to serve. Taking the case of Mexico's National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (also known as CONEVAL), Graizbord is able to deeply theorize the processes for creating and employing this very particular kind of expertise. By analyzing what it takes to establish and sustain accountability techniques as a form of expertise, Graizbord is able to put forward the contours of a future technodemocracya vision of a democratic future that hinges on the power of these evaluation experts who, with their everyday work as civil servants, shape politics in unexpected but profound ways.