Good Governance And Development

'Governance,' as defined by the World Bank in its 1992 report, 'Governance and Development', is 'the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country's economic and social resources for development.' The report deemed it is within the Bank's mandate to focus on the following: -the process by which authority is exercised in the management of a country's economic and social resources -the capacity of governments to design, formulate, and implement policies and discharge functions.Also available: 'Governance: The World Bank's Experience' (ISBN 0-8213-2804-2) Stock No. 12804.

Brian Smith offers an exploration of the implications of the 'good governance' agendas for developing and newly democratised countries.

Questions surrounding democracy, governance, and development especially in the view of Africa have provoked acrimonious debates in the past few years. It remains a perennial question why some decades after political independence in Africa the continent continues experiencing bad governance, lagging behind socioeconomically, and its democracy questionable. We admit that a plethora of theories and reasons, including iniquitous and malicious ones, have been conjured in an attempt to explain and answer the questions as to why Africa seems to be lagging behind other continents in issues pertaining to good governance, democracy and socio-economic development. Yet, none of the theories and reasons proffered so far seems to have provided enduring solutions to Africa’s diverse complex problems and predicaments. This book dissects and critically examines the matrix of Africa’s multifaceted problems on governance, democracy and development in an attempt to proffer enduring solutions to the continent’s long-standing political and socio-economic dilemmas and setbacks.

This well-presented collection with contributions from academics and administrators reflects the growing concern towards the present-day practice of governance. It focuses on the need for Governance for Sustainable Human Development to manage the country's social as well as economic resources leading to better development-founded on four pillars of Accountability, Transparency, Predictability, and Participation. It thus calls for unfolding various issues and devising suitable strategies towards humane governance through appropriate political, bureaucratic, economic, and legal reforms. Highlighting its theme in the initial chapters in the New Public Management perspective, the book goes on to unravel the major administrative loopholes in Indian administration, such as lack of transparency and accountability, and the stranglehold of corruption, all of which lead to human deprivation. Later chapters give a synoptic overview of administrative reforms so far undertaken in India, and emphasize the effectiveness of governance in establishing appropriate balance in relative roles of public, private and civil society organizations, rights and responsibilities of politicians, bureaucrats and community, and economic and social justice. The book closes on a positive note strongly reiterating administrative re-engineering to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century for ensuring a holistic development of the country. Recent and real life happenings infused in the text to substantiate arguments, make it an interesting reading. The book will be of immense use to the students and teachers of public administration, social science, political science, and those who practise public administration. It will also be useful to a large number of government departments-both at the union and the state levels.

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on bloomsburycollections.com. While good governance is a worthy goal, this book argues that it is not a prerequisite for economic growth or development. The book exposes the methodological shortcomings of the commonly-used governance indicators developed within the World Bank. The authors argue that donors should not impose onerous good governance conditions, expecting the developing world to simulate now-developed countries. They contend that most poor countries lack the administrative and financial capacity to achieve these reforms or institutions - so donor conditionality often becomes a recipe for failure. In place of grand government reforms aimed at enhancing market efficiency, the book's position is that the reform agenda should target strategic bottlenecks for development and enhance the state's capacity to deal with these disruptions. Bringing together contributions from leading political scientists, political economists and development practitioners, this is the first book to provide a systematic critical perspective on received notions of good governance.

This book aims to show that a strong and achieving public service is a necessary condition for a competitively successful nation. The concept of good governance is linked with institutionalised values such as democracy, observance of human rights and greater effectiveness of the public sector.

There is growing recognition of the need for new approaches to the ways in which donors support accountability, but no broad agreement on what changed practice looks like. This publication aims to provide more clarity on the emerging practice.

Generally referring to all forms of social coordination and patterns of rule, the term 'governance' is used in many different contexts. In this Very Short Introduction, Mark Bevir explores the main theories of governance and considers their impact on ideas of governance in the corporate, public, and global arenas.