Democratization and 'Good Governance' Programmes: Independent Processes? (original) (raw)

Globalisation Good Governance and Democracy The Interface

Even so, democracy, which for us is a process that can not be attained or put in place overnight. All democracies are at a particular level of transition or change can be tagged democratisation. Democratisation is defined as the process of transition to a stable and consolidated democracy. Although democratisation has both economic and political dimensions, it is not an end in itself. This is reflexive of democratisation in most countries in Africa which, indeed, has not brought about the desired good governance. This explains the need to use democracy as a vehicle for good governance. In doing this, however, it requires unalloyed commitment to democratic ethos which, in itself, is ingredients of good governance

Mistaking 'governance'for 'politics': foreign aid, democracy, and the construction of civil society

Civil society: History and possibilities, 2001

Through a long and uneven process of diffusion, the idea of civil society has entrenched itself within a diverse array of cultural and intellectual settings. One of the contexts into which it has been "received" is what can loosely be termed the development profession. The community of scholars, consultants, activists, and policy analysts that influence policymaking in national governments, international agencies and non-governmental organisations have constructed an elaborate discourse around the role played by civil society in the process of social, economic and political change in post-colonial societies. Because of the influence of this community on foreign aid 1 priorities-which today encompasses issues of how political life is organised-it occupies a unique niche in contemporary political theory, representing a common locus for both the reception of the idea of civil society and its retransmission to aidrecipient countries. Scholars attempting to bridge the gap between political theory and development studies have, in general, performed admirably in holding multilateral aid agencies to account for the hypocrisy of their policy statements on civil society. In perhaps the best treatment of this issue, David Williams and Tom Young expose the emptiness of the World Bank's stated commitment to respecting indigenous African political traditions. 2 The Bank's enthusiastic support for civil society, they argue, is nothing less than a backdoor attempt to transform African societies from the ground up by substituting a new understanding of individual political subjectivity-for it is only through such a novel basis for the "self" that the accompanying features of an open political sphere and a "neutral state" can perform the roles assigned to them in liberal political theory and neo-liberal economic policy.

Political Regimes and Development Assistance: The Political Economy of Aid Selectivity

2004

This article analyzes the development agenda Western donors have been operating on over the past decade, particularly the agenda's focus on good governance. After analyzing the academic background of this agenda, which is most evident in so-called new institutional economics, the article discusses the change in the discourse on development assistance toward selectivity, and its implementation in the policies of the International Development Association, the United States, and the Netherlands. The analysis of the policies of these three donors, and of recent empirical studies demonstrates that the donors are biased in favor of rewarding certain policies—in particular, pro-market and trade-oriented policies—on the part of aid-receiving countries. The donors have, thus, introduced clearly ideological and political elements about the socioeconomic order into a seemingly technocratic discussion about the prerequisites of governance. Because of the emphasis on market orientation and trade openness as central criteria for the judging of “good governance,” the current development assistance agenda is located explicitly in the domain of the post-Washington consensus, which links the promotion of pro-market policies to the implementation of an agenda of political reform. The article concludes by pointing out several ambiguities in the current focus on good governance. In particular, the author argues that donors tend to emphasize the instrumental value of governance and overlook the underlying structural causes of bad governance in developing countries.

Good Governance and Aid Effectiveness: The World Bank and Conditionality

Prompted by concerns over the effectiveness of aid, the World Bank has significantly stretched its policy frontiers by endorsing "good governance" as a core element of its development strategy. Governance, which captures the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country's economic and social resources for development, is a multifaceted concept. Limited by its restrictive mandate and institutional ethos, the Bank has adopted a restrictive approach, confining itself to the economic dimensions of governance. Nevertheless, this evolution represents an ambivalent enterprise with both promises and dilemmas, as the inherent tension between the economic and political dimensions of governance appears the most contentious issue. While democracy tends to refer to the legitimacy of government, good governance refers to the effectiveness of government. This article assesses the Bank's approach for promoting good governance in developing countries. It argues that that the quality of governance is ultimately attributable to its democratic content. Neither democracy nor good governance is sustainable without the other. Consequently, democracy and good governance need to converge, both conceptually and practically, in the study and practice of public policymaking. Therefore, for the Bank to substantially improve good governance in developing countries, it will need to explicitly address issues of power, politics and democracy. The article further argues that aid conditionality is not the most appropriate approach to strengthen good governance in developing countries. What is needed is a more radical approach in which donors cede control to the recipient country, within the framework of agreed-upon objectives.

Democracy and Global Governance

The Oxford Handbook of International Political Theory, 2018

Is it feasible to democratize the powerful institutions of global governance that currently work to advance globalization processes, making them more responsive to the needs and interests of the people affected by their policies? This chapter discusses the motivation for addressing this “democratic deficit” at the transnational level, in the context of the inequalities in power and resources engendered by globalization and its institutional framework. It critically analyses two main lines of argument put forward for democratization of global governance—the “all subjected” and the “all affected” principles—and then proposes a reformulation of them for this new context. It concludes by considering some concrete directions for fulfilling democratic norms transnationally, including ways of introducing greater transparency and accountability in transnational institutions, as well as more extensive changes that would enable people to gain substantial control over the forces and structures...

Globalization and Democratization: Institutional Design for Global Institutions

Journal of Social Philosophy, 2006

This paper is concerned with the best way to conceptualize democracy for supranational and transnational institutions. In this paper, I assume, without examining the evidence, the veracity of the often-repeated argument that there is an increasing need for transnational and supranational institutions in the new global context; and consider, in that context, the type of democratic legitimacy that might attach to such institutions. 2 This latter focus represents a departure from some current cosmopolitan theorizing about such global institutions, which offer a justice-based account of their legitimacy, viz., where global institutions are justified if they bring about a fairer world 3 . I then attempt to sketch the sort of account that would be necessary to create democratic and accountable global institutions.

The Conditionalities of Aid and the Good Governance Agenda: The World Bank and its Member States

International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology , 2020

This paper endeavours to explain the good governance notion of the World Bank Group. It seeks to answer whether the bank fairly and impartially promotes good governance to all its member states, or merely imposes a system of conditionality to its aid recipient countries. It critically examines whether the bank's practical approach of good governance is to reform the institutions of the developing countries. On the other hand, the paper critically assesses the methodological approach of the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI). The peace also highlights the critics of good governance from the idea of development. Regarding aid and loan effectiveness, it demonstrates the World Bank's promotion of good governance to its developing countries. Therefore, the paper suggests that good governance often measure the value of the west against the developing world. It critically evaluates whether good governance itself is a neoliberal model, and a standard to measure the institutions of the developing nations against the west.