Operationalizing social contracts: a new measurement of government deliverables
Loewe, Markus / Amirah El-Haddad / Tina ZintlExternal Publications (2026)
in: Studies in Comparative International Development, first published 12.06.2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12116-026-09504-7
Open access
The international development debate is increasingly referring to the notion of the “social contract”. In this paper, we measure what governments give societies, a core element of social contracts. To enable social contract comparison across countries and over time, we develop indices to capture the three “Ps”: protection against internal and external threats, provision of social and economic services, and political participation. These indices are composed of indicators, which are mainly input variables to gauge the willingness of governments to deliver the three Ps. Subsequently, we calculate the values of 154 countries for the three indices around the year 2019. The results show that the indices are useful and valid. They highly correlate with each other and with other indicators such as per capita income and the Human Development Index. Yet, these correlations are not perfect, meaning that the indices are not another redundant development index. They add information and value. Finally, we make a first step in identifying patterns in the results. Countries in Latin America were doing comparatively well on average in terms of political participation in 2019. When controlling for per capita income, governments in sub-Saharan Africa, were delivering disproportionately more on average in terms of protection and political participation, but less so in terms of provision. Countries in the Middle East and North Africa fail mainly with regard to political participation.
