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Good governance is an indeterminate term used in international development literature to describe how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources. Governance is "the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented)".[1] The term governance can apply to corporate, international, national, local governance[1] 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.[2] The concept centers on the responsibility of governments and governing bodies to meet the needs of the masses as opposed to select groups in society. Because countries often described as "most successful" are Western liberal democratic states, concentrated in Europe and the Americas, good governance standards often measure other state institutions against these states.[2] Aid organizations and the authorities of developed countries often will focus the meaning of "good governance" to a set of requirements that conform to the organization's agenda, making "good governance" imply many different things in many different contexts.[3][4][5]

II.  Contents of Article

·        Forms, Reform and Standards, Effects, Role of Political Parties, Scholarly Approaches, Criticism, See also, References, and External links sections

Forms Section


Good Governance and International Affairs

In international affairs, analysis of good governance can look at any of the following relationships:[3]

  • between governments and markets,
  • between governments and citizens,
  • between governments and the private or voluntary sector,
  • between elected officials and appointed officials,

The varying types of comparisons comprising the analysis of governance in scholastic and practical discussion can cause the meaning of "good governance" to vary greatly from practitioner to practitioner.[3]

Good Governance in Corporate Sectors

In corporate affairs, good governance can be observed in any of the following relationships:

·     between governance and corporate management

·     between governance and employee standards

·     between governance and corruption in the workplace

The meaning of good governance in regards to corporate sectors varies between actors. Legislation has been enacted in an attempt to influence good governance in corporate affairs. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002) set up requirements for businesses to follow. Whistleblowing has also been widely used by corporations to expose corruption and fraudulent activity. [1]

Good Governance in Local Governments

Good Governance is argued to be the most important in local governments. It tries to promote more relationships between government and

·    empowered citizens

·    neighborhood councils

·    community councils

Good Governance with local government aims to increase civil engagement with more members of the community in order to get the best options that serves the people.[2]

Good Governance in Scientific Exploration

Before there can be scientific experimentation, organizations must be compliant with good governance, meaning that testing must be moral and practical. Many research organizations such as SPICE (Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering) a geoengineering research project that was formed in the U.K. was required to go through stages of evaluation before testing could be conducted if they were to be funded by stakeholders. In 2011 SPICE made plans to experiment with solar radiation. The method for this experiment included injecting stratospheric sulfur aerosols into the Earths atmosphere.

The criteria or “stage-gate” that they must pass before performing their experiment included the following; identify safe and principle risks, test must be compliant with relevant regulations, future applications and impacts, and mechanisms put in place to review these in the light of new information, and that the stakeholders must be regarded and taken into account. Before research can be conducted in the field of geoengineering it must be scrutinized using good governance to ensure testing isn’t harmful to the environment and to detail all the possible risks that may occur .[3]

Reform and Standards Section

I.   The article discusses 3 institutions that have the ability to be reformed:

·        The state, private sector, and civil society

II.  Also gives standards and criteria used to establish good governance in:

·     United Nations

The United Nations is playing an increasing role in Good Governance. According to former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, “Good governance is ensuring respect for human rights and the rule of law; strengthening democracy; promoting transparency and capacity in public administration”. To implement this, the UN goes follows 8 characteristics [1] [4]

·        Consensus Oriented

·        Participatory

·        following the Rule of Law

·        Effective and Efficient

·        Accountable

·        Transparent

·        Responsive

·        Equitable and Inclusive

Using these methods, the UN focuses on strengthening decolonization, localization and, human rights around the world.     IMF, UN, World Bank

·        World Bank: We will elaborate more on the ethics used in the World Bank to achieve good governance; public sector management, accountability, legal framework for development, transparency and information

·        UN: the roles of the UN in good governance, how it can lead to the reduction of poverty, safer cities

·        Source added under References Section 

Effects Section

Keep:

I.    International Humanitarian Funding - again mentioning IMF and World Bank as major donors

II.  Discusses democratization - mentions the Overseas Development Institute as a literature source

III.  Provides a separate example of the effects of good governance by using a statement made by Hillary Clinton in Nigeria

Scholarly Approaches Section

I.    The article only discusses Nayef Al-Rodhan’s perspective toward good governance

II.  Will add different approaches:

·        Good governance related to research and experimentation on humans

III.  Good Governance and experimentation on humans

The Tuskegee Study from 1932-1972 led to the signing of the National Research Act. This law outlined basic ethical ways in which research is to be carried out. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (DHEW) made regulations that required voluntary agreements for anyone who was to take part in their studies. Governance is used in scientific studies to ensure that policies are safe and ethical when studies are being performed on human subjects. After the National Research Act there have been other organization put in place such as the Ethics Advisory Board which reviews biomedical research. Many federal agencies adopted the Federal Policy for Protection of Human Rights in 1991. In 1995 President Bill Clinton established the National Bioethics Advisory Commission led by the Department of Health and Human Services with the task of reviewing regulations and policies to ensure the safety of research volunteers.[5]

Criticism Section

According to Sam Agere "The discretionary space left by the lack of a clear well-defined scope for what governance encompasses allows users to choose and set their own parameters."[4]

In the book "Contesting 'good' governance", Eva Poluha and Mona Rosendahl contest standards that are common to western democracy as measures of "goodness" in government.[5] By applying political anthropological methods, they conclude that while governments believe they apply concepts of good governance while making decisions, cultural differences can cause conflict with the heterogeneous standards of the international community.[5]

Munshi’s work was created in order to “revive” good governance. Many individuals tend to either wave away and be bored with the idea of governance, or not have a clue to what it has at all. This book is a generalized discussion on what the purpose of good governance is and how it serves that purpose throughout our society. Munshi targets the book toward anyone doing research or just simply “those concerned with the issue of governance.”[6]

Crozier’s article discusses the different dynamics of changes that occur throughout communication systems and the effect it has on governance[7]. The idea of various perspectives is presented throughout the article. This allowed the reader to be able to see what contemporary governance is like through different pairs of eyes. Crozier’s motive was to also create an open mindset when referring to how governance and policy within society operates, especially with the constant changes occurring day to day.

References Section

I. Forms:

·        Eaton, Tim V., and Michael D. Akers. "Whistleblowing and Good

Governance." CPA Journal 77, no. 6 (June 2007): 66-71. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed March 22, 2016).

·       Macnaghten, P., & Owen, R. (2011). Good Governance for Geoengineering. Macmillan, 479

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v479/n7373/pdf/479293a.pdf

II.  Reform and Standards:

·        Legal Opinion on Human Rights and the Work of the World Bank, Senior Vice

President and General Counsel, 27 January 2006

·        Thomas G Weiss (2000) Governance, good governance and global

Governance: Conceptual and actual challenges, Third World Quarterly, 21:5, 795-814, DOI:10.1080/713701075

·        Riggio, Eliana (2002) Child friendly cities: good governance in the best interests

of the child, Environment and Urbanization October 2002 vol. 14 no. 2 45-58

·        Daniel C. Esty,(2006) Good Governance at the Supranational Scale: Globalizing

Administrative Law, The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 115, No. 7 (May, 2006), pp. 1490-1562

III. Scholarly Approaches:

·        "How Tuskegee Changed Research Practices."

Http://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/after.htm. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.

IV. Criticism:

·        Munshi, S., Abraham, B. P., & Chaudhuri, S. (2009).

The intelligent person's guide to good governance. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

·        Crozier, M. P. (2010). Rethinking Systems:

Configurations of Politics and Policy in Contemporary Governance. Administration & Society, 42(5), 504-525.

  1. ^ Eaton, Tim V., and Michael D. Akers. "Whistleblowing and Good Governance."CPA Journal 77, no. 6 (June 2007): 66-71. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed March 22, 2016).
  2. ^ " A User's Guide to Measuring Local Governance" UNDP http://www.undp.org/content/dam/aplaws/publication/en/publications/democratic-governance/dg-publications-for-website/a-users-guide-to-measuring-local-governance-/LG%20Guide.pdf
  3. ^ Macnaghten, Phil; Owen, Richard (2011-11-17). "Environmental science: Good governance for geoengineering". Nature. 479 (7373): 293–293. doi:10.1038/479293a. ISSN 0028-0836.
  4. ^ Thomas G Weiss (2000) Governance, good governance and global governance: Conceptual and actual challenges, Third World Quarterly, 21:5, 795-814
  5. ^ "How Tuskegee Changed Research Practices." Http://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/after.htm. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.
  6. ^ Munshi, Surendra (2009). The Intelligent Person's Guide to Good Governance. Sage Publications India.
  7. ^ Crozier, Michael P. (2010). "Rethinking Systems: Configurations of Politics and Policy in Contemporary Governance". SAGE. doi:10.1177/0095399710377443.