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A Framework for Assessing Governance
Governance has emerged as one of the
main themes of international development. If governance
matters, so does the need to assess key aspects in a
systematic matter. However, given the many political
and technical challenges, governance assessments need
to be operationalized in careful ways.
Based on reviews of the extensive literature,
our work clusters the rules that seem to matter into
six main arenas of governance activity:
- Civil Society
- rules affecting the way citizens become aware of
and raise issues in the public
- Political
Society - rules shaping
the way issues are combined into policy by political
institutions
- Government
- rules affecting the way policies are made by government
agencies
- Bureaucracy
- rules determining the administration and implementation
of policies
- Economic
Society - rules regarding state-market interactions
- Judiciary
- rules defining the resolution of disputes and conflicts
It also outlines six principles for
assessing governance. The first three are particularly
relevant to the way state actors relate to citizens,
while the last three are more specific to the operations
of the state itself.
- Participation - the degree
to which affected stakeholders are able to sense ownership
and involvement in the political process
- Fairness - the degree to which
rules are applied equally to every one in society
- Decency - the extent to which
rules are handled without humiliating or harming people
- Accountability - the extent
to which political actors are perceived as responsible
to the public for what they say and do
- Transparency - the degree
to which rules about openness and clarity are upheld
in the public realm
- Efficiency - the extent to
which rules enhance effective use of scarce resources
without incurring waste or delay
These principles are universal in the
sense that they are respected in different societies
all over the world (even though, they may at times contradict
each other in practice).
The WGA initiative puts forward a framework
for assessing governance that focuses on these six principles
and six arenas. They provide a comprehensive overview
of the full task and disaggregate it at the same time
into manageable units that can be treated independently
but also in common with the others.
The WGA Framework for Assessing Governance
The challenge is to fill in the details
for each empty box in the table! See our other webpages
for indicators and an approach.
Source:
Governance
and Development: Sorting Out the Basics Goran Hyden,
Julius Court and Kenneth Mease (2001) World Governance
Survey Discussion Paper 1.
Making
Sense of Governance: The Need for Involving Local Stakeholders
Goran Hyden, Julius Court and Kenneth Mease (2003) Development
Dialog.
Click on the links below for information
on other topics:
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