Scholars, policymakers, and media have increasingly focused on national competitiveness in the context of globalization and economic growth. This heightened attention underscores the importance of the many indices ranking government performance and effectiveness across countries. The four indices, government efficiency, public institutions, government effectiveness, and quality of government, have dominated this field. However, we found serious limitations they reveal, in terms of analytical soundness and policy relevance and usefulness. This paper systematically provides such a critique and lays the groundwork for thinking about government capacity in a new way: in terms of government competitiveness. So doing, this paper contributes to the literature about national competitiveness, governance quality, administrative reform, and development studies.