Introduction to the Good Governance Partnership

What made us get together and form this group within the Global Diplomatic Forum? Find out in our first episode. Who are we, what is our goal, and most importantly, why have we chosen Governance as the topic to discuss? In this first episode, you will find that out. Welcome to the Good Governance Partnership.

Good Governance is a term, that is widely known, but not quite as precisely understood. While in business, the term Corporate Governance is broadly defined as the collection of mechanisms, processes and relations by which corporations are controlled and operated, there is much more to it than we can see at first sight. Governance is a structural element.

The principles identify how rights and responsibilities are distributed in a corporation. And these principles are omnipresent, and every member of a corporation is bound to these rules. The board of directors, managers, shareholders, regulators, and stakeholders. In business, Governance is measurable, even though not easily. In politics however, applying Good Governance is much more challenging.

The level of Good Governance applied by a government for instance cannot easily be measured. The term Good Governance includes how state makes its decisions, formulates and realizes its policies. Good Governance is transparent, efficient, and accountable. It includes the whole population in the decision-making process. And it also includes the interests of minorities and weak members of a society, to make sure that they are all, inclusively, recipients of necessary goods and services.

Even though the general concept sounds logical, it really is hard to grasp. Is Good Governance a value or a principle that stands for itself, autonomously, without any link to other aspects of a state’s organization? Or is good governance rather an integral part of each sector in which policy decisions are made? And: Is Good Governance only possible in democratic systems? And if yes, what does that mean for the autocratic regimes in the MENA, for instance? Are they all operating without any kind of guiding governance? Or could the installation of sector-wide Good Governance principles actually help to end the Arab Malaise? And what about Europe the European crisis? Is the declining belief in this supranational framework a consequence of a lack of the application of good governance principles?

We will address relevant questions in this regular series, step by step, by looking at the key challenges, the application of Good Governance principles is facing in the context of crisis. We address the broad topics of political participation, education, access to labor-markets, climate change, and the distribution of goods and services. We will discuss to what extent the lack of governance contributes to the poor performances in relevant domains. This is to show that Good Governance is more, than a means to itself. It is a requirement for success, sustainability, and growth.