Governance and Good Governance: A New Framework for Political

Analysis by Yu Keping

Summary

Governance

The English word governance derives from Latin and ancient Greek and originally meant
control, guidance and manipulation. It was confused with another commonly used word
“Government” but they are not the same. Governance can be explained by the following theories
proposed by the scholars from around the world.

Governance is a collection of institutions which includes both public and private entities. The
power is not only controlled by the state by is regulated to control private and public institutions
recognized publicly.

 Governance means that the regulation and the power is transferred or shared with private
sectors or civil society rather than only the state.
 Governance shows that many institutions have to work collectively and in such a way
they share responsibilities and resources between civil and public sector.
 Governance emphasizes on giving the authority to the civil sector so that they can serve
in their own way or by working beside the government in a specific geographical region.
 Governance gives the capacity to share the responsibility of solving the public affairs
with the civil society rather than embossing all the load on the public sector.
 From the above theories we can conclude that the governance is the sum of ways
individual public and private institutions manage their common affairs. Governance is a
process and it is based on coordination between public and private sector

Difference between Governance and Government

There are 2 basic differences between governance and the government. One is Authority; in
government the authority is completely in the hands of the state but in governance, its is
controlled by the civil society, private sector and the state. They all the shape the policy and
regulation. Second is Power; In government power goes from up to down and is solely by the
state to solve the public issues but in governance, the power is divided on the basis of market and
interests developed by the civil society.

Governance can compensate for certain deficiencies of the State and the market in but state and
market can fail in social resource allocation. In response to the challenge, many scholars and
international organizations have come up with a number of concepts and the most well
implemented is good governance.

Good Governance

Good governance means the public administration process that speaks for public interest. It is a
kind of collaborative management of public by both the State and the citizens. It has six
important features.

 Legitimacy  Rule of law Essentially

 Transparency  Responsiveness
 Accountability  Effectiveness

Importance

Good governance has equal control as the state but it has one point that it can interfere in some
things where the government cannot. Another important factor is that everyone in the global
village wants the power in civil hands and governance gives relatively good control to the civil
society. Power is shifting from state to civil sector. Governance theory is a breakaway from the
traditional ways of authorities. It is effective administration as cooperation between the two; it
tries to develop completely new techniques for public affairs management.

Drawbacks

Drawbacks of good governance is that some multi nationals and trans national interfere in the
internal affairs of third world countries and promoting their own favored policies in the civil
sector. This makes dangerous effect on the harmony and safety of that country. An eye should be
kept on the dangerous aspects of global governance theory.
 Governance, Good Governance and Global Governance:
Conceptual and Actual Challenges by Thomas G. Weiss

Summary
Many international organizations have defined the term governance in their own way as follows;

World Bank defines it as the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a
country's economic and social resources. There are three distinct aspects of governance:

 The form of political regime

 The process by which authority is exercised
 The capacity of governments to design, formulate, and implement policies

Commission on Global Governance defines governance is the sum of the many way’s
individuals and institutions, public and private, manage their common affairs. It is a continuing
process through which conflicting or diverse interests may be accommodated and co-operative
action may be taken. It includes formal institutions and regimes empowered to enforce
compliance, as well as informal arrangements that people and institutions either have agreed to
or perceive to be in their interest.

In short, governance involves both the state the civil society in management of different policies
and also their implementation.

Domestic policies and priorities were central to the problems faced by both developing countries
and members of the social community. It became politically an international topic of discussion
on how state and society were structured. A discussion about the quality of a country's political
and economic governance system became acceptable within international public policy for four
reasons.

 First, there was the glaring illegitimacy

 Second, Both the Third World and the former Soviet part were going through political
reforms
 Third, the entry of non-state actors changed the political landscape in most countries.
  Fourth, although the UN's constitution prohibits actions dealing with the domestic
policies of member states, nonetheless humanitarian interventions have encouraged the
insertion of responsibility as a necessary additional component of national sovereignty.

Good governance is beneficial for a country as it contains the collaboration between the
government and the civil society but some aspects has led the scholars to attack back the UN
ideology of promoting good governance.

Global Governance

Rosenau describes the process as a pervasive tendency in which major shifts in the location of
authority and the site of control mechanisms are under way on every continent, shifts that are as
pronounced in economic and social systems as they are in political systems. Global Governance
is quite distinct from good or bad governance at the national level. The UN has a special role on
leadership for global governance. Intergovernmental organizations, both universal and regional,
should be strengthened.