Good Governance and Development (original) (raw)
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Interlinkage between Governance and Economic Development: A Review of Existing Literature
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Governance is defined as 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 obligations and mediate their differences. Thus, governance can be summed up as a process through which authority in a country is exercised (UNDP, 1997; UNESCO, 2012). Development linked governance has been an issue much debated about in the contemporary world. Since the second half of the 1980’s, growth and development studies have started to shed light on the importance of improving institutions of governance on economic growth. Good institutions, good governance and good leadership are considered by many authors as necessary conditions to support the development effort of a country or region. Good governance is believed to be the single most important factor in eradicating poverty and promoting d...
Democracy and Good Governance: A Conceptual Review on how Democracy engender Development
2022
The paper examined the implication of the principles of democracy and good governance on development. The paper argued that democracy/good governance has a direct link with development especially in developing countries that are still battling with statebuilding. The following questions were developed. 'what is the nature of democracy? Is democracy equaling good governance? How does democracy and good governance engender development A qualitative approach was used and secondary data was employed for a thematic analysis. The paper arrived at the following conclusions. Democracy is considered as critical for development but one with strong institutions (good governance) that cannot be control and manipulated by any individual or social forces in the society. The realization of development in democracies takes longer time to come due to the mass participation and the broader debate for the consent and legitimation of the institutions, but it often ensures sustainable development. The ideals of democracy and the core values of good governance indirectly of directly lead to effectiveness of a state and hence development. For effective democratic politics (thus one that engenders development in multi-cultural and diverse social environment, emphasis should be placed on the strengthening of institutions. The paper recommended for a revisit the constitutions to reconstitute the powers of state institutions.
Governance, Development and State Building
The European Journal of Development Research, 2005
The article presents a survey of the arguments relating development and governance to the prospects of successful state formation. Political institutions that are accountable, good governance and economic development indeed enable central governments to let minorities share in the gains in wealth and security. The political allegiance of minorities thus acquired is likely to strengthen the process of state building. Conversely, poor governance implies that the state fails to satisfy collective needs and fails as an arbiter in civil conflict. If so, a central government has to rely more on the political and economic coercion of minorities and thus increases the probability of violent escalation of civil conflict. L'article passe en revue les débats reliant développement et gouvernance dans la perspective du succès de la formation d'un É tat. Il est montré que des institutions politiques responsables, une bonne gouvernance et le développement économique permettent effectivement à des gouvernements de laisser des minorités bénéficier de richesses et d'une sécurité accrues. L'allégeance politique des minorités ainsi acquise va vraisemblablement renforcer le processus de formation de l'É tat. Au contraire, une gouvernance insuffisante empêche l'É tat de satisfaire les besoins collectifs et de jouer un rôle d'arbitre dans une guerre civile. Si tel est le cas, un gouvernement devrait davantage compter sur une coercition politique et économique des minorités augmentant dès lors la probabilité d'une escalade de la violence lors d'une guerre civile.
Governance matters have been an integral part of societies since the dawn of civilisation, and especially so with respect to what values, ethics and rules of conduct and justice should be upheld, how societies should be organised, and who should hold power and authority. Ancient scriptures, which typically cast a wide net, were the first to address such matters. over the centuries, a very long list of philosophers -including, Confucius, Kautilya, Aristotle, rousseau, Adam Smith and Karl marx -have also left their mark on the subject. However, this paper focuses on governance and development since 1991 -when the Soviet Union collapsed and communism with it -as it marked an important opportunity for departure from the status quo.
Democracy, Good Governance, and Economic Development
The institutional deficit that characterizes so many developing and transitional countries-weak and arbitrary governance, weak protection of civil liberties, and inadequate regulatory and legal framework to guarantee property rights, enforce contracts, and reduce the transaction costs-deprive these countries of needed productive investment and economic growth. Improving the quality of governance is essential for economic development. What types of policies and institutions have the most positive and measurable effects on improving governance? What kinds of institutional arrangements are associated with economic growth and poverty reduction? Research shows that democracy influences economic growth. Specifically, secure private property rights that give incentives to individuals to be productive, institutionalization of the rule of law, especially constraints against executives, and electoral mechanisms that give citizens the ability to evict the " rascals " are essential to promoting growth. Thus, an obvious corollary is that democratization and decentralization without simultaneous strengthening of property rights and the rule of law may not always lead to effective democratic governance. How important is good governance for economic growth? Can economic growth be sustained without good governance? The answer is best captured in the oft-cited aphorism that good governance promotes growth and that growth further improves governance. Mauro notes " a consensus seems to have emerged that corruption and other aspects of poor governance and weak institutions have substantial, adverse effects on economic growth. " 1 Hall and Jones, who found large productivity differences across countries, conclude, " our hypothesis is that differences in capital accumulation, productivity, and therefore output per worker are fundamentally related to differences in
Governance and Development CRED WP 2010 / 07
2010
In this paper we discuss whether or not `governance' is an important source of variation in development experiences. We draw four main conclusions. First, governance is best thought of a sub-set of `institutions' and as such emphasis on governance is consistent with much recent academic work. Nevertheless, governance is a quite vague rubric which it is di cult to unbundle. Second, the governance of a society is the outcome of a political process and as such is closely related to the literature on the political economy of development. Third, improving governance necessitates understanding the nature of the entire political equilibrium. Finally, an important research frontier is understanding the forces that create or impeded endogenous changes in governance.
Governance and Development: The Perspective of Growth-enhancing Governance
Most economists would agree that governance is one of the critical factors determining the growth prospects of countries. However, there is considerable controversy about governance priorities and the types of governance capabilities that are critical. These disagreements are related to fundamental disagreements on the role of markets versus other social, political and technological characteristics that need to be fulfilled for sustainable growth to take off. The contemporary good governance agenda is based largely on governance capabilities that are required to create the conditions for markets to be efficient. While these are important and desirable conditions, we argue that they are second order conditions, in the sense that without other state capacities that directly promote sustainable growth, market conditions for efficiency are on their own insufficient and ultimately unsustainable. The point about sustainability of particular reforms is particularly important. There are a number of critical structural features of developing countries that prevent the achievement of significant progress on the good governance front. These factors make the good governance agenda doubly problematic: it sets many developing countries goals they cannot achieve, and in addition, even if they could have been achieved, these goals are not sufficient to ensure sustainable growth. The task of this paper is to outline some of the governance issues that we already know about, and identify other areas where more research is necessary to assist policy.