International rankings and public opinion: Compliance, dismissal, or backlash?

Abstract

Despite growing scholarly interest in international rankings, we know little on how the public perceives them. Do rankings bring citizens to favor compliance with international standards? Or do citizens simply dismiss the rankings? We examine these questions through the Israeli public’s response to the U.S. tier ranking of efforts against human trafficking. A survey experiment finds that Israel’s demotion from Tier 1 to Tier 2 leaves Israelis unfazed; a demotion to Tier 3 produces a surprising backlash effect, reducing Israelis’ support for anti-trafficking efforts. While this should have been a likely case for demonstrating the intended impact of rankings, we show that rankings might, in fact, meet a dismissive or defiant public response. This finding suggests caution in the assessment of international rankings’ domestic impact, and it carries implications for the design of rankings to reduce the risk of a backlash.