Ranking the world: grading states as a tool of global governance
"On May 7, 2012, on his first day as once again elected President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin declared that he would make economic modernization the goal of his administration, vowing to take Russia from its current position as 120th on the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index (DBI) to 50th by 2015. The remark was noteworthy for two reasons: First, the Russian President chose the DBI as an authoritative and credible outside judge of the endemic bureaucratic corruption and dismal investment conditions that still characterize the country"--