From Accuracy to Accountability: Subjecting Global Indicators to the Rule of Law

Benoit Frydman argues that global social indicators function as instruments of governance despite widespread claims of scientific neutrality, and therefore must be subjected to the rule of law and judicial scrutiny like any other form of political authority. Drawing on genealogies tracing statistics, sociology, and managerial rationality from Bentham and Comte to contemporary management practices, he challenges the modern Constitution's rigid division between scientific facts and political values. Rather than accepting assessment limited to methodological accuracy alone, Benoit Frydman proposes a pragmatic test evaluating whether, and to what extent and by what means, indicators should be subject to legitimacy, transparency, and proportionality requirements that characterize rule-of-law governance.