By Melesse Zenebework
The term governance has different meanings from different dimensions. A political organization may define governance in the sense of politics only and may even forget the importance of development. A humanitarian organization, similarly, define governance in the way they believe a government should stand and protect the right and freedom of a human being. Development organizations on the other hand, explain governance in their own ways of development aspects.
It is clear that any sorts of development cannot be accomplished without the existence of a government in a nation. It is also a major factor and a prerequisite for the fast and effective development of a country. Effective development programs are usually applied in the countries where good governance is flourished. Therefore, looking into the characteristics of good governance, set by the International Community, I would like to discuss how governance should look in the International Development context.
According to the World Bank, good governance is characterized as a manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country’s economic and social resources for development. Sustainable development can only take place if a predictable and transparent framework of rules and institutions exists for the conduct of private and public business. It also projects the essence of predictable, open and enlightened policy, together with a bureaucracy instill with professional culture and an executive arm of government accountable for its actions. Moreover, all the above could exist when the government allow the presence of strong civil society participating in public affairs, where the rule of law is applicable over the all. Since the World Bank’s interest in governance derives from its concern for the sustainability of the projects in which it works as a financial backer, this definition does not focus on the political situations of countries; rather it focuses on the development aspects only. (World Bank, 1992)
Having the above definition, governance is attributed with four major pillars which could help us to judge whether it is good or bad. These are: accountability, transparency, the rule of law and participation.
Accountability
This refers to the system in which government must assign individuals in specific areas and those people are the one who are responsible for the failure or success of each and every action in the field. It helps the people to ask who did what and this in turn, builds the trust of the people towards the government. They will be able to understand what is being implemented and what is planned for the future.
At a macro level, including financial accountability, government must build the system which help for the effective, transparent and publicly accountable financial expenditure control and cash management and even an external auditing system. This tells the progress of the government in the economic development. A government with more accountability would give the vital priority to primary education and basic health care service which are the major steps in order to ensure the improvement of the living standards of the poor and promotes the economic development of the nation. At the micro level, accountability requires managers of implementing and participating agencies are accountable for operational efficiency.
Transparency
The private-sector investment decisions depend on public knowledge of the government’s policies and confidence in its intentions, as well as in the information provided by the government on economic and market conditions. Transparency of a decision-making, particularly in budget and regulatory process, is also critical to the effectiveness of resource use and the reduction of corruption and waste. (World Bank, pp.3)
When the more the policies and programs of the government on the national development issues, then the private companies will be forced to stand back from doing any further development actions. Lack of transparency deprived the trust the people and private business enterprises have towards the government therefore; most of the national and local level development activities will be done by the government organizations. This usually spoils the progress of development in the country since it doesn’t allow the participation of the general public and individuals that the number of development actors will eventually minimized.
The rule of law
This is often concerned with the balance of power among the society. What is the potential of the government to force its officials to obey the rules and regulation of the country? To what extent the government flourishes the superiority of the law throughout the nation? What is the status of the nation in relation to the degree of corruption? These questions have to be answered by the characteristics of the rule of law the government built over the nation.
According to the World Bank report, the rule of law refers to the fair, predictable and stable legal framework which is very important for the people to access the economic opportunities and acts on them without fear of arbitrary interference by the government. In order to resolve conflicts by the independent judicial system, the government has to introduce the rules to the public in advance. It also helps for future discussion between the concerned actors over the amendments and changes of some of the rules since they are publicly known.
Participation
Good governance is the type of system where the participation of the diverse society is highly visible. Such governments allow every social group and the targeted individuals in the decision-making process. Especially those who are affected directly or indirectly by the policies and programs of the government have to genuinely participate in the decision making. A government with less participatory development programs usually attains slow progress and the sustainability of their development is always in danger.
As it is mentioned in the World Bank report, good governance requires that the civil society has the opportunity to participate during the formulation of development strategies and that directly affected communities and groups should be able to participate in the design and implementation of the programs and projects. It is also clear that a government with poor governance would allow the few most powerful to enjoy more privilege and manipulate the larger part of the community which is poor and often marginalized in every aspect.
Conclusion
All in all, even though the definitions and understanding of governance differs from people to people or from institution to institution based on their own experience and the issues they stand for, its definition and interpretation among the development professional and institutions are quite similar. They all define good governance as the mechanism of a government which applies the system of transparency, accountability, rule of law and participation throughout the nation.
In short, governance is the ability of government to develop an efficient, effective and accountable public management process that is open to criticize participation and that strengthens rather than weakens a democratic system of the government. Similarly, good governance is attributed as democratic which implements the system of transparency, pluralism, citizens’ involvement in the decision-making, representation and accountability. Good governance usually focuses on the provision and strength of legislative system, economic and political decentralization, democratization of local governance, building anti-corruption, facilitating civil military relations and improves policy implementation. (Merilee S. Grindle, 556)
Bibliography
International Fund for Agricultural Development (1999). Good Governance: An Overview.
(Rome) Executive Board-Sixty-Seven Session.
Merilee S. Grindle(2005). Development Policy Review: Good Enough Governance Revisited.
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