Thermometer or sauna?: Performance measurement and democratic assistance in the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

This article presents a case study of performance measurement in the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID's) democracy and governance program. Its purpose is to illustrate the juxtaposition (and sometimes contradiction) between the high standards of causal logic and accuracy required of performance measurement, and the untidiness involved in the 'politics of democratization'. Based on USAID experiences in numerous countries, the article concentrates on four specific themes drawn mainly from the literature on re-engineering but also from new public administration. These are: the complexity of politics; the challenge of attribution; the danger of distortive incentives; and the interrelated questions of product and process and quantitative and qualitative measures. Problems of measurement are clearly complicated by the fact that the Agency does not deliver service directly, has limited control over its expenditures, and, in the case of democracy assistance, by the need to operate in a complex and sensitive area, across international borders and diverse political systems and cultures. The article includes a discussion of some innovative qualitatively-oriented USAID responses to these problems.