Introduction

The concept of ‘governance’ is not new. It is as old as human civilization. It has over the years gained momentum and a wider meaning. Apart from being an instrument of public affairs management, or a gauge of political development, governance has become a useful mechanism to enhance the legitimacy of the public realm. Governance is "the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented)". The term governance applies to corporate, international, national, local governance or to the interactions between other sectors of society. The concept of ‘good governance’ often emerges as a model to compare ineffective economies or political bodies with viable economies and political bodies. The concept centres on the responsibility of governments and governing bodies to meet the needs of the masses as opposed to select groups in the society. Governance is not about government; it is partly about how governments and other social organizations interact, how they relate to citizens, and how decisions are taken in a complex world. Thus governance is a process whereby societies or organizations make their important decisions, determine whom they involve in the process and how they are made accountable.

In modern societies, with the increasing role of the state in social and economic fields, emphasis on the quality of its governance is of prime concern to all. Our system of governance is founded on the lofty principle of rule of law, wherein the state power is divided amongst three chief organs, each under a duty to conduct itself in a manner that sub- serves the common good of all and achieves the objectives of a welfare state. Governance relates to the mechanism, structure and process that guide political and socio-economic relationship of a country. It is a holistic approach comprising of three interconnected spheres of government: political, economic and administrative. In most cases, governance failure has been marked as the prime hindrance towards development. Good governance is an acceptable goal for public servants to strive for professional excellence, to be more transparent and fair in all of their transactions and respond with integrity to the demands of the citizens. It is, therefore, not an end in itself, but a means of achieving wider goal of public interest. All this requires experts and professionals in public bureaucracy to be achievement conscious as well as pro-people and value caring. 

The Concept

The 1980s heralded a new chapter in the debate about ways of governing. The concept ‘governance’ gained popularity as ‘governability’ with the emphasis on adherence to the rule of law. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the term ‘governance’ came to be used to define the reinventing of public administration, particularly in developing countries, to make it more receptive to the needs of globalization. Governance has initiated a critical approach in the development discourse in the new millennium.

The concept of ‘governance’ is widely used to express a range of new practices of public administration. Governance signifies a widespread perception of a shift in the nature and the role of the state from a monolithic bureaucratic hierarchy towards multi-level institutions that interpenetrate civil society through markets and networks. This implies a related change in state activity from laws and commands to negotiation and diplomacy, the incorporation of non-state actors into the policy process, an emphasis on local self-governance, greater levels of public involvement in decision-making, and a reliance on more reflexive and responsive modes of public policy. Governance is concerned with the changes taking place in the organization of the state and its relationships with private sector and civil society. The attention turns from state – centric analysis towards an understanding of the wider public policy system in which the intuitions of government appear to be involved in process of negotiation, bargaining and compromise with a host of other actors. Normative questions about good, democratic governance have become vital for public administration from the local to the international level. The World Bank has even added ‘good governance’ to its lending criteria (Williams and Young 1994). The Bank takes good governance to refer primarily to standard liberal democratic practices and norms  representative and responsible government, the rule of law, and an absence of corruption.

The international financial institutions, most notably the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, were in the forefront of pushing good governance as part of their aid packages. “By governance we mean the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country’s social and economic reforms,” was how the World Bank defined governance in the mid-1990s. The Bank identified public sector management, transparency, legal framework, accountability and information as key components of governance. While these components undoubtedly had benefits for the public at large in developing countries, they were especially relevant to the interests of transnational companies seeking to do business in developing countries where the prevailing rules of doing business favoured local players. Thus ‘good governance’ came to be associated with policies and practices of deregulation, liberalization and opening up of the economy to foreign competition. For some scholars, the governance debate was triggered in part by the management philosophy advanced by the New Public Management (NPM) experts. A common feature of governance and NPM is a changing view of the role of public officials. Both governance and NPM downplay the role and significance of public officials. In the governance debate, political leadership is tied less to formal elected office and more to matters of political entrepreneurship. Political leaders, in this perspective, have a key responsibility in the development of networks and the pooling of public and private resources. In the NPM vision of the public sector, the role of political leaders is not clear. The public officials have a role in defining the long-term goals of the public sector, and besides should offer considerable discretion to the operative agencies and institutions.

Governance is ultimately concerned with creating conditions for ordered rule and collective action.  The outputs of governance are not therefore different from those of government. It is rather a matter of a difference in processes. Governance refers to the development of governing styles in which boundaries between and within public and private sectors has become blurred. The essence of governance is its focus on governing mechanisms which do not rest on recourse to the authority and sanctions of government. ‘The governance concept points to the creation of a structure or an order which cannot be externally imposed but is the result of the interaction of a multiplicity of governing and each other influencing actors’ (Kooiman and Van Vliet.1993, p.64). The governance perspective also draws attention to the increased involvement of the private and voluntary sectors in service delivery and strategic decision-making. The responsibilities that were previously the exclusive responsibility of government have been shared. Contracting-out and public-private partnerships are now part of the reality of public services and decision-making in many countries.

In response to widespread criticism over the narrow economic definition of governance relied on by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to explain difficulties with the Structural Adjustment Programmes, the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) formed a Working Group on Participatory Development and Good Governance. This Committee linked good governance to participatory development, human rights and democratization, and identified the rule of law, public sector management, controlling corruption and reducing excessive military expenditure as important dimensions of good governance. One of the more comprehensive definitions of governance is from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). According to UNDP, governance is “the exercise of political, economic and administrative authority to manage a society’s affairs. It is a broad concept that encompasses the organizational structures and activities of central, regional and local government, the parliament and the judiciary and the institutions, organizations and individuals that comprise civil society and the private sector in so far as they actively participate and influence the shaping of public policy that affect people’s lives.”