Good Governance: The Inflation of an Idea

Good governance has grown rapidly to become a major ingredient in analyses of what's missing in countries struggling for economic and political development. Intuitively and in research, good governance is a seductive idea--who, after all, can reasonably defend bad governance? Nevertheless, the popularity of the idea has far outpaced its capacity to deliver. In its brief life, it has also muddied the waters of thinking about the development process, and has become conflated with the capacity to generate growth, alleviate poverty, and bring effective democracy to peoples in poor countries. Scholars and practitioners need to develop a reasonable understanding of what good governance can deliver--and what it cannot. They must also assume more realistic expectations about how much good governance can be expected in poor countries struggling with a plethora of demands on their capacities to pursue change. In this paper, I explore how and why the concept of good governance emerged and grew, and then suggest ways that academics and practitioners can become more sensitive to the limitations of fads and to curb the tendency toward idea inflation.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND FIRM PERFORMANCE

Good corporate governance is an important step in building market confidence and encouraging more stable, long-term international investment flows. Many countries see better corporate governance practices as a way to improve economic dynamism and thus enhance overall economic performance. This paper sets out to further develop our understanding of corporate governance and its effects on corporate performance and economic performance. In doing so, it addresses some of the underlying factors that promote efficient corporate governance, and examines some of the economic implications associated with various corporate governance systems. I provide an framework for understanding how corporate governance can affect corporate performance. In the wake of a literature survey, I find that corporate governance matters for economic performance, insider ownership matters the most, outside ownership concentration destroys market value, direct ownership being superior to indirect.corporate governance, company performance

Governance Quality and Economic Growth

Among both academics and the wider development community there seems to be a general acceptance of the value of good governance and its role in promoting economic growth. However, beyond this general statement, there is a lack of deeper theoretical understanding as to why good governance is expected to foster economic growth and how such effects may take place. We de.ne governance quality as the capacity of a government to internalize externality. A theoretical model is developed to formally integrate governance quality into an endogenous growth framework. We elucidate the underlying mechanisms, through which governance quality affects economic performance: governance quality affects the productivity of public investment and in turn has an impact on economic performance. We also highlight that the endogeneity of governance quality and development stages have strong implications for the governance-growth relationship.

Pengaruh Pengawasan Dewan, Pemahaman Peraturan dan Undang – Undang terhadap Pengelolaan Keuangan Daerah dengan Good Government Governance sebagai Variabel Intervening

The Effect of Board Supervision of Rules and Laws Understanding on the Managementof Local Finance with Good Government Governance as an Intervening Variable (A Study ofSKPD in South Konawe Regency).”Supervised by Andi Basru Wawo, as Supervisor I, andHusin, as Supervisor II.This study aimed to analyze the effect of board supervision and understanding of rulesand laws on the management of local finance with good government governance as anintervening variable. The study was a causal research and the objects of the study were 31SKPD in South Konawe regency. Data were collected using a questionnaire. The data wereanalyzed using a technique of path analysis on the SPSS version 20.Result of partial analysis showed that board supervision had a positively significanteffect on good government governance, understanding of rules and laws had a positivelysignificant effect on good government governance,board supervision had a positivelysignificant effect on the management of local finance, understanding of rules and laws had apositively insignificant effect on the management of local finance, good governmentgovernance could act as an intervening variable in the relationship between boardsupervision, understanding of rules and laws, and the management of local finance

Government Financial Management, Strategy for Preventing Corruption in Indonesia

In popular view, the term accountability generally refers to a wide spectrum of public expectations dealing with organizational performance, responsiveness, good governance, and even morality of government and nonprofit organizations. These expectations often include implicit performance criteria – related to obligations and responsibilities – that are subjectively interpreted and sometimes even contradictory. And in this broader conception of accountability, the range of people and institutions to whom public and nonprofit organizations must account include not only higher authorities in the institutional chain of command but also the general public, the news media, peer agencies, donors, and many other stakeholders (Kearns, 1996). Government could build its accountability by implementing good and proper financial management. Financial management is a tool for government to show its performance and accountability to the public. Meanwhile, corruption is the misuse of public office for private gain. As such, it involves the improper and unlawful behavior of public-service officials, both politicians and civil servants, whose positions create opportunities for the diversion of money and assets from government to them and their accomplices (Langseth, 1999). The more corruption, the more far away from good governance, and the less public accountability. According to Klitgaard (1988), power minus accountability is corruption. This paper explains about the influences of implementing government financial management to corruption fighting and good governance in broadly view. Discussion will be derived to find out the understanding of financial management, corruption, and good governance terminology fits for Indonesia environment. The purpose of this paper is to achieve common knowledge that financial management should be implemented by public organization from strategic management for public organization approaches. Besides, reader will find out explanation from both theoretical approach and pragmatical approach as well

The Collaborative Management of Sustained Unsustainability: On the Performance of Participatory Forms of Environmental Governance

n modern democratic consumer societies, decentralized, participative, and consensus-oriented forms of multi-stakeholder governance are supplementing, and often replacing, conventional forms of state-centered environmental government. The engagement in all phases of the policy process of diverse social actors has become a hallmark of environmental good governance. This does not mean to say, however, that these modes of policy-making have proved particularly successful in resolving the widely debated multiple sustainability crisis. In fact, they have been found wanting in terms of their ability to respond to democratic needs and their capacity to resolve environmental problems. So why have these participatory forms of environmental governance become so prominent? What exactly is their appeal? What do they deliver? Exploring these questions from the perspective of eco-political and sociological theory, this article suggests that these forms of environmental governance represent a performative kind of eco-politics that helps liberal consumer societies to manage their inability and unwillingness to achieve the socio-ecological transformation that scientists and environmental activists say is urgently required. This reading of the prevailing policy approaches as the collaborative management of sustained unsustainability adds an important dimension to the understanding of environmental governance and contemporary eco-politics more generally

Global Dialogue Report - Global Governance and Regulation: London

The London Dialogue involved up to 23 participants in discussions about the role of global governance and regulation in the protection and promotion of human wellbeing in the twenty-first century. It ranged across a broad spectrum of governance and regulation issues. The discussion proceeded on the understanding that global governance and regulation is important for all our efforts to live well as individuals but that they are more significant still because they are vital to our efforts to live well together in an increasingly globalised world. The discussion started by recognising that the ecosystem of global governance and regulation was becoming ever more complex, involving a diverse range of new players, new organisations and new values. It was felt that developing a better understanding of the structure and dynamics of this new ecosystem would be an important first step in developing more effective governance and regulation. The discussion of the problems of current global governance and regulations systems and institutions identified a lack of trust in governance institutions as critical at this time. This was related to what was perceived as weaknesses of transparency and accountability for some parts of the global governance regime. Large philanthropic organisations were not seen as being exempt from these issues of distrust, transparency and accountability. The problems of the short -term-ism of national governments (political cycles) and their focus on national priorities in global governance were discussed. The exclusion of women, girls and youth were highlighted as a particular problem of governance systems.The discussion identified a wide range of innovation and trusted institutions of governance and regulation. A number of these involved the innovative use of new information and communication technologies to improve voice and accountability. Further initiatives demonstrated other ways in which trust can be built. These innovations appeared to provide a good foundation on which philanthropic organisations might build to contribute to rebuilding trust in global governance and regulation institutions. The discussions explored the idea that global governance problems might be better dealt with by breaking the problems and challenges into smaller, bite-sized chunks. It echoed the more profound view that there may be fundamental problems with the ideas and values on which current approaches to governance and regulation are founded.The discussion concluded with a suggestion that philanthropic organisations might further explore what was perceived to be their unique position as intermediaries between business, government and civil society in order to explore what their comparative advantage might be in strengthening global governance and regulation in ways that better protect and promote human wellbeing in the face of growing threats and uncertaint

Governance and Development: Changing EU Policies

Abstract This introductory article to the special issue on European Union, development policies and governance discusses how notions of ('good') governance have come to dominate development discourses and policies since the mid-1990s. The article argues that governance was part of the so-called Post-Washington Consensus, which understands governance reform as part of the creation of market societies. Although academics have commonly emphasised the fact that governance concerns the rules that regulate the public sphere, the dominant understanding of (good) governance in policy circles revolves around technical and managerial connotations. The second part of the article introduces some important features of EU development policy, and argues that this is esse

Accountability and challenges of partnership in good governance: Delivering public service

This paper examines the rise of the Partnership Theory in good governance which required collaboration between two or more organizations. The transformation of partnership in governance has led them to have common goals and achievements in delivering public service.However, delivering public service was not as simple as people think due to the challenges in terms of time and energy constraints yet it restraints them from being a part of good governance. Lack of understanding in cooperation and decision making has brought “them” into the challenges created by the partnership itself.Hence, the elements in the partnership should be justified in order to have a clear view on the accountabilities and challenges in maintaining the trust on good governance.Thus, having a better view in partnership roles is crucial in order to strengthen the understanding of the theory in delivering a good public service in the future