Governance within a globalizing framework

Governance has emerged as a major challenge at various levels of society, and is one of the most fiercely debated issues of our time. We are witnessing the countervailing trends towards increasing roles for global organisations of various kinds on the one hand, and yet towards greater localisation on the other. There has been a major shift in many countries away from the dominance of the state towards a complex inter-relationship between the state, the market and the community sector. These trends raise major policy issues for governance in all democratic societies

September 11: the End of Neo-liberal Fundamentalism

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Global Social Responsibility and the End of Neo-liberal Fundamentalism

The September 11, 2001 attacks in USA were followed by measures that herald major changes in the global business environment and an end to neo-liberal fundamentalism. The State, civil society and business were revealed as interactive and interdependent components of the social system which is strongly influenced by the values of its members. A large majority supports fairness in preference to neo-liberal economic objectives. Accordingly, corporate citizenship can expect to be under stronger pressure from domestic governments and the world community to support democratic practices, ecologically sustainable development, upgraded public health and education programs and effective attacks on corruption

Governance in the UK: fuzzy federalism

In this paper Dr Coghill argues that the complexity of modern British society and the uncertain environments in which governments operate require new approaches to governance. Whitehall must question whether good governance is increasingly endangered by impossible contradictions between the desire for central control over events and the stifling impact of centralism on the innovation required to provide the responsive rule which is at the heart of democracy. The implications and potential benefits of approaching U K society as a decentralised complex adaptive system rather than basing governance on centralised control from Westminster are examined and possible areas for research discussed

Reforms To Protect Parliament's Reputation

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Victoria's Reforms: Implications For The Standing Of Parliament

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Self-organisation of the community :: democratic republic or anarchic utopia

This paper examines the implications of widespread behavioural characteristics and values found in human communities for the operation of fuzzy logic in social organisation. It distinguishes between community and society, after Nancy (1991). The paper argues that there are features of human behaviour and values which are so general as to be regarded as fundamental aspects of mankind, notwithstanding some variations in their rankings between and within communities. Amongst these features are mankind's essentially social nature. Communities are comprised of individuals who are interdependent on each other and who interact with each other. The interactions occur according to fundamental patterns of human behaviour and values, notwithstanding the capacity for the exercise of free will and independent action. This understanding of the nature of communities stands in contra-distinction to perspectives that treat people as autonomous individuals. Complexity theory suggests that superior outcomes in a complex adaptive system are to be found at the transition phase between chaos and order, in which there is a moderate level of organisation. The paper presents a case study in which superior outcomes are associated with a significant level of social regulation

Governing the privatised state: the accountability challenge

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Parliamentary accountability to the public: the role of professional development programmes for MPs

The contradiction between public concerns over reports of the behaviour and performance of parliamentarians and parliaments and the standards which the public expects of its democratic institutions and representatives raises a key accountability issue: what steps are appropriate to be taken by parliaments to address such public concerns? The paper examines the particular issue of the exercise of ethical judgments by parliamentarians. It reviews the experience of parliaments and other public institutions in addressing ethical standards of behaviour, including through training, institutions such as parliamentary standards commissioners. Particular attention is given to appropriate sources of professional development in ethical behaviour