GOOD GOVERNANCE
ABBAS HOSHDAR TEHRANI
Introduction
The process of governance includes factors such as transparency and accountability. Content includes values such as justice and equality. Governance cannot be all process and values. It must ensure that the citizens, especially the poorest, have the basic needs and have a life with dignity. A dictatorship that delivers basic needs to the citizens is no doubt better than a dictatorship that does not, but it is not good governance. Similarly, regular elections alone do not translate into 'good governance'. Rule of law that is transparent, but unjust - such as: Apartheid - is certainly not 'good governance'. It is only when all these ... three conditions are fulfilled that governance become'.
Good governance implies an administration that is sensitive and responsible to the needs of the people and is effective in coping with emerging challenges in society by framing and implementing appropriate laws and measures. It includes strict rules of accountability. It could be centered on community group and individuals, and based on a notion of rights as inherently comprising duties. Rather rulers must be strictly bound by generally accepted norms and controlled by institutions to enforce those. Within this broad conceptualization of good governance there are two distinct positions. The first, articulated by the World Bank conceptualizes good governance as competent management of a country's resources and affairs in a manner that is open, transparent, accountable, equitable, and responsible to people's needs. Others argue that governance is 'good' when it serves not just any public interest but that of the major poor and marginalized people in society. Over the years, good governance has emerged beyond being a value concept. Increasingly, it is understood as a process that when implemented in its totality leads to sustainable development and change.
Definitions of good governance
1. The World Bank: As described in the 1994 report Governance : The World Bank's Experience, 'Good governance is epitomized by predictable, open and enlightened policy making; a bureaucracy imbued with a professional ethos; an executive arm of government accountable for its actions; and a strong civil society participating in public affairs; and all having under the rule of law.
2. European Union: In the context of a political and institutional environment that upholds human rights, democratic principles, and the rule of law, good governance is the transparent and accountable management of human, natural, economic, and financial resources for equitable and sustainable development. It entails clear decision-making procedures at the level of public authorities, transparent and accountable institutions, the primacy of law in managing and distributing resources, and capacity building for elaborating and implementing measures that aim to prevent and combat corruption.
3. United Nations Development Program (UNDP): Governance is the exercise of economic, political, and administrative authority to manage a country's affairs at all levels. It comprises mechanisms, processes, and institutions, through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their legal obligations, and mediate their differences.
4. Office of High Commissioner of Human rights (OHCHR): Governance is the process whereby public institutions conduct public affairs, manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights. Good governance accomplishes this in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption, and with due regard for the rule of law. The true test of 'good governance is the degree to which it delivers on the promise of human rights: civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. They key questions is: are the institutions of governance effectively guaranteeing the right to health, adequate housing, sufficient food, quality education, fair justice and personal security?
5. People's perspective: Governance is 'good' only if it benefits the social groups that are most impoverished and socially vulnerable. There may be some element of good governance that may benefit all sections of a society, and if these are identified and demonstrated, they can be supported. But, in the event of a conflict of interest, if a policy, law or governance practice benefits one section of the population and harms another, then only that policy, law or practice, which benefits sections of a society which are most poor and venerable, would qualify as 'good governance'.
Perspectives
The three' broad perspectives that influence theory, policy and practice of good governance are - the neo-liberal, human development and human rights perspectives.
The Neo-Liberal perspective: The neo-liberal perspective shapes the perspective of the World Bank, IMF and several other multinational donor agencies. In simple terms, neo-liberal is rooted in two interrelated sets of principles. The first concerns the pursuits of a development strategy based on privatization, liberalization, de-regulation, strengthening markets and market forces, benchmarking the public sector, tax cuts, and globalization. The second concerns the search for new forms of regulations to create a multi-layered the market society that complements the globalizing market economy.
Neo-liberal in practice: The emerging mode of neo-liberal polices has four key features. First, it seeks to promote international competition and innovation through policy changes. The policy emphasis is on innovation and competitiveness, rather than full employment and public planning. Secondly, social policy is subordinated to economic policy so that labor markets and flow of capital becomes more flexible. The focus is on the cost of production rather than on means of redistribution and social cohesion. Thirdly, neo-liberalism demands moderation of the prominence of national policy-making and implementation, replacing it with local, regional and supranational levels of government and social partnerships. One of its major concerns had been the search for creative 'post-national' solutions ( e.g WTO, etc.) to current economic, political, social and environmental problems.
A Critique of the Neo-liberal Perspective
Critics of the neo-liberal paradigm consider it perilous to regard good governance as a politically neutral act, requiring merely a bundle of institutional reforms, economic polices and techno-managerial interventions. They question the underlying notions of the neo-liberal version of good governance on four grounds: First,
the wisdom of applying the same set of polices across the board to societies with different socio-economic and political back grounds is questionable. Second, what is considered 'good' for one section of people is not necessarily good for all others. Third, with their unabashed promotion of the interests of private business, with a bias towards North-based transitional business often the good governance prescriptions are reduced to shots that boost the private sector, with side effects to society at large. Fourth, economic growth is not an end in itself but a means to achieving human development.
Human Development Perspective
The human development perspective situates the role of good' governance along the perspective of poverty eradication. It views poverty as complex phenomenon and, along with the economic indicators, takes into account social, ecological, cultural and sociological dimensions of poverty. Its focus is not on shortages of income as the primary indicators of poverty.
From the human development perspective, good governance means 'the exercise of political, economic, and administrative authority to manage a nation's affairs'. It is the complex mechanisms, processes, relationships and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their rights and obligations and mediate their differences, thus, it challenges the economic growth focus with an expanded vision of human developments by weaving into it the social, ecological and cultural dimensions of sustainable development. The defining characteristic of the human development paradigm is its focus on people. Looking beyond economic growth, this perspective encourages questions like economic growth for what (human or economic development) and in what (consumer luxuries, drugs, sex work, all of which contribute to high GDP growth or health, education, gender equality, environmental regeneration). Further, it calls for meaningful participation by contribute to GDP growth but contribute to the depth and breadth of human development.' These are quality questions, not quantity ones, which multinational banks or Northern governments do not ask enough.
UNDP and Good governance
According to the UNDP, good governance and human development are inseparable. It believes that governance cannot be 'second' unless it sustains human development. Likewise, human development cannot be sustained without good governance. If therefore, emphasis the need to develop capacities for good governance as one of the strategies for eradicating poverty and not just for accumulating wealth through efficient management of resources.
For UNDP, governance embraces all methods - good and bad that societies use to distribute power and manage public resources and, problems. Second governance, taken a step further, is a subject of governance wherein public resources and problems are managed efficiently and in response to the critical needs of society. Democratic forms of governance rely on public participation, accountability and transparency.
Public accountability covers the spectrum of approaches and practices used by governments to ensure that activities and output meet intended goals and standards. While realization of the government's goals and objectives is debatable, financial accountability presents an urgent challenge that requires an immediate and practical solution especially given the rising concern for transparency and responsible governance.
The UNDP has identified four types of governance - economic, political, administrative, and systematic - that are subject to the influence of civil society and the private sector in varying degrees... Together they constitute the governance system, that is, the formal institutional and organizational structure of decision-making in the modern state.
1. Economic governance includes processes of decision making that directly or indirectly affect a country's economic activities or its relationship with other economics. UNDP recognizes that economic has a major influence on societal issues, such as equality, poverty and quality of life.
2. Political governance refers to decision-making and policy implementation of a legitimate and authoritative state. The state should consist of separate legislative, executive and judicial branches represent the interests of a pluralist policy and allow citizens to freely elect their representatives.
3. Administrative governance is a system of policy implementation carried out through efficient, independent, accountable and open. public sector.
4. Systematic governance encompasses the processes and structures of society that guide political and socioeconomic relationships, and creates and maintains an environment of health, freedom, security along with the opportunity to exercise personal.
Human Rights Perspective
The human rights approach to development looks beyond economic management of resources or human development needs. Rooted in the University of human rights, it asserts that meaningful and sustainable development is possible only when all people have full access to and are to enjoy all their human rights. Given that the world as a whole has surplus production virtually every sphere and sufficient resources to meet every need, the human rights approach maintains that poverty and marginalization are primarily the consequences of human rights violations and the process can be reversed only. When people are able to reclaim their rights. In this context, the state has the primary responsibility to ensure human rights for all citizens.
Because every human being has rights and it is the state's responsibility to ensure access to and enjoyment of rights, the human rights approach sees people as active stakeholders in, and central, to development. Since enjoyment of rights by people is essentially a governance concern, this approach has good governance implications. Also, it pegs the primary responsibility on the state, requiring it to do everything possible to ensure people have physical and economic access to their basic requirements like food, shelter, health, education and physical security.
The right approach advocates 'the use of human rights principles and legal norms as a coherent framework for poverty elimination and for the achievement of sustained improvement in the quality of life of poor and socially isolated people'. Contrary to the neo-liberal position on privatization and reliance on the market for greater efficiency, it resists any such move towards complete reliance on the market forces which it believes is concerned primarily with profits.
It maintains that the primary responsibility for development, justice, redistribution, and equality lies with governments acting at the national, and sub-national and international levels. Hence, the state has an important and inalienable role of facilitator and regulator. Further it claims that equality and justice are integral to any conceptualization of local, national or global governance. So the framework of good governance that it suggests contains elements of regulations by the state, to ensure affordable access for the poor people and to soften the inequalities inherent in the market place…
All over the world, the concern for good governance has been increasing since 1990's – good governance per se, as well as, good governance as an essential prerequisite for a new sustainable development with a human face, where human values predominate. While there is not internationally agreed upon definition of good governance, yet some of its important aspects would include three dimensions: the form of the political regime, the process by which authority is exercised and people- centered decision-making in the management of the country's economic and social resources; and the capacity of the government to design, formulate and implement policies and discharge functions.
Good governance is important for countries at all stages of development. In fact the need for an effective and efficient system of governance has never been as critical as of today where the world is characterized by increased globalization and a highly complex and competitive environment.
Good governance cannot be separated from democracy and human rights. It respects human dignity, justice, equity, participation and accountability. It express itself through its concerns about rights at various levels, though the framework of law, through its instruments – both elected and appointed public officials, and in the work of non-governmental community based organizations, and institutions of civil society, such as citizen's and consumer groups, business, educational institutions, clubs, unions, media, charities and religious institutions, etc. Good governance empowers and encourages people to take increasingly greater control of their lives through their participation in a manner that does not impinge upon the accepted rights of others.
Good governance and sound public sector management constitute the major mechanisms of social transformation and dare the cornerstones of successful economies. It is the institutions of the state, which create the agenda for the political management of a country. Good governance creates an enabling environment for its citizens, establishes law and order, manages macroeconomic stability, builds physical and financial infrastructure, provides essential services and empowers the vulnerable and the underprivileged. In a world, increasingly characterized by economic globalization and a highly complex and competitive environment the need for a capable, effective and efficient system of governance is critical for peace, stability and economic prosperity.
Summing up
Perspectives depend on position and interest. Good governance is different for the market, for civil society and for poor people – the majority of the world - who live on less than US $ 2 a day. From their perspective, good governance would be something that ensures their basic needs - food, water, clothing, housing, as well as, security of tenure, person and livelihood and reasonable enhancement of material standard of living. Their expectation would be state-centric, since it is the state that plays a dominant part in their life. In contrast, middle class civil society sees greater balance between the state and the market since it is the consumerist class. Being more individualistic, they see the role of government as an 'enabler' for their individual capacity, and help in time of distress and they see the market as a 'service provider'. For the market, good governance is 'helping free flow of capital and goods, and control over 'Free Trade Zones' (FTZs), where there are no taxes or labor laws, no environmental norms, no minimum wages or labor standards, but there is a steady supply of cheap raw material, subsidized energy, water and free infrastructure.
Good governance, therefore, goes much beyond just transparency and accountability, and includes values and justice. Restoration of human dignity becomes the prime task of governance in the value and rights-based approach. Prevention and suppression of social unrest is seen as a prime component of governance by neo-liberals, who would discourage unrest as it would lead to economic loss; and governments tend to view it from a purely 'law and order' if not 'security' perspective. But a more enlightened view of governance would necessitate a rights-based approach to deal with social tensions, addressing its root causes such as impoverishment, denial of opportunities and human/civil rights violations.
Governance encompasses social, economic, political and administrative policies and practices. Good governance is humane governance i.e. that provides security, reduces risks, delivers rights, increases choices, and promotes sustainable human development.
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