Russia Lags Behind Burkina Faso on Five of Six Measures of Governance

Paul Goble

            Staunton, November 11—In 1984, David Buchan of the Financial Times described the USSR as “Upper Volta with Missiles,” a powerful comparison even though Upper Volta had renamed itself Burkina Faso several months earlier that suggested that the Soviet Union might look powerful because of its military but was fundamentally a poor and backward state.

            Now, 35 years later, Vladimir Gelman, a professor at St. Petersburg’s European University, compares the Russian Federation with Burkina Faso on six measures of governance made by the World Justice Project, Transparency International and the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Index (WGI)  (facebook.com/vladimir.gelman/posts/2095786023856412).

            On five of the six indices, Burkina Faso rates as doing a better job than the Russian Federation. Here are the specifics which constitute just as unsettling and damning assessment of a country that claims or at least aspires to be a superpower as did Buchan’s classic comparison in 1984.

Rule of Law Index 2019 (World Justice Project) -- Burkina Faso 73^rd in the world; Russia 88^th place

Corruption Perception Index 2018 (Transparency International) – Burkina Faso 78^th place in the world; Russia, 138^th.

Rule of Law Index 2017 (WGI) -- Burkina Faso -0.40, Russia -0.79. Here and below the scale runs from -2.5 to 2.5. In al cases involving these two countries, they are in the negative.

Regulatory Quality Index 2017 (WGI) – Burkina Faso -0.40, Russia -0.48

Government Effectiveness, 2017 (WGI): Burkina Faso -0.59, Russia -0.08

Control of Corruption, 2017 (WGI): Burkina Faso -0.11, Russia -0.89