Objectives and Characteristics of Good Governance

Good governance aims at achieving much more than the efficient management of

economic and financial resources or public services. It is a broad reform strategy

to make government more open, responsive, accountable and democratic. Good

governance is the qualitative dimension of governance.

A governance system that enables all-important stakeholders to participate

in governing mechanisms, processes and institutions emphasizing decentralization,

participation and responsiveness is considered to be good or effective. Good

governance is a combination of the efficiency concerns of public management and

the accountability concerns of governance.

Good governance aims at the following:

 Improving the quality of life of citizens

 Enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of establishing the legitimacy and

credibility of institutions

 Securing the freedom of information and expression

 Providing citizen-friendly and citizen-caring administration

 Ensuring accountability

 Using IT-based services to improve citizen-government interface

 Improving or enhancing the productivity of employees

 Promoting organizational pluralism-State, market and civil society

organizations for governance

The World Bank has defined good governance as having six main characteristics,

which are as follows:

 Voice and accountability that include civil liberties and political stability

 Government effectiveness, which comprises the quality of policy making

and public service delivery

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 The quality of the regulatory framework

 The rule of law which includes protection of property rights

 Independence of judiciary

 Curbs on corruption

The policy makers, researchers and international institutions attempted to

conceptualize good governance and postulate its basic characteristics, which work

to reinforce one another. These include:

 Participation: Considered to be the core of good governance. Governments

need to ensure the requisite freedom to the citizens to participate in the

decision-making process, articulate and represent their interests so that these

inputs can get reflected in policies and programmes. Participation boosts

the independence, confidence, autonomy and self-reliance of citizens. It

enables them to influence the decisions and actions of those who are

governing them. It fosters responsiveness PI policies to the needs of

beneficiaries.

 Rule of Law: Governance does not imply the arbitrary use of authority.

Any governance to be effective needs to be supplemented by a fair legal

framework. This should be supported by the appropriate law enforcement

machine and an independent judiciary that can instil confidence in the people.

 Transparency: This is based on the premise of the free flow of information

the governance process. Till information provided has to be understandable

and of relevance to those concerned. The provision of information within

reasonable limits to the people enables them to comprehend and monitor

the activities of the private, government and non-government sectors.

 Responsiveness: The earlier governance mechanisms failed in bringing all

the stakeholders into their ambit. Presently, till emphasis is more on institutions

being responsive to the need, of all those who are likely to be affected by

their decisions.

 Equity: Since the governance structure and mechanisms aim at participation,

they need to promote equity. A society’s well-being and development depend

on ensuring that all till members have a stake and role in it, and are not

excluded from the mainstream of activity.

 Effectiveness and Efficiency: Good governance, also, similar to New

Public Management, aims at effectiveness and efficiency in the usage of

resources in consonance with societal needs and demand. Result orientation

needs to be the key concern.

 Accountability: It has to ensure answerability as well as proper enforcement

for violating certain laid down norms. It involves making politicians,

administrators, governmental and non-governmental, and private sector

organizations accountable for their activities.

 Predictability: This entails presence of clear-cut laws and regulations that

regulate society and economy

In a UNDP workshop on Governance for Sustainable Human Development (1994)

certain characteristics of good governance were identified. These include the

following:

 Participatory

 Responsive to people

 Able to develop resources and methods of governance

 Enabling, facilitating and regulatory rather other controlling

 Service-oriented

 Sustainable

 Acceptable to people

 Fosters equity and equality

 Promotes gender balance

 Accountable

The World Bank also outlined certain basics of good governance, which have

been listed as follows:

 Operation of rule of law, which involves adequate laws to ensure security

and facilitate the functioning of markets, which are adequately enforced

through an independent and predictable judiciary and the absence of official

corruption.

 A policy environment, which facilitates economic growth and poverty

reduction. This includes sound macroeconomic and fiscal policies, budgetary

institutions, and predictable and efficient regulation of the private sector,

including the financial sector.

 Adequate investment in people (particularly through public expenditures on

basic health and education) and in infrastructure, which involves good

allocation of public expenditures between and within sectors.

 Protecting the vulnerable through affordable and targeted safety nets, and

generally ensuring an appropriate pro-poor emphasis in public expenditures.

 Protecting the environment, which includes assuring that economic growth

does not cause environmental degradation (Shand, 2001)

Bovaird and Loffler (2003) list ten characteristics of good governance which have

recurred frequently both in the literature and in political and practitioner debates

on the subject. These are:

1. Citizen engagement
2. Transparency

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3. Accountability

4. The equalities agenda and social inclusion (gender, ethnicity, age and religion)

5. Ethical and honest behaviour

6. Equity (fair procedures and due process)

7. Ability to compete in a global environment

8. Ability to work effectively in a partnership

9. Sustainability

10. Respect for the rule of law

The major ideological push towards good governance as a condition for

aid was formulated by the World Bank in its report, Assessing Aid; What Works,

What Doesn’t and Why (1998). In this report, the interaction between

development aid and quality of governance is established, and it is argued that the

impact of aid on growth depends on sound economic management and effective

institutions.

The report endorsed a selective approach to the disbursement of aid based

on policy performance and reform commitment, rather than on the extent of poverty
or the developmental needs of a borrowing country. Gradually, it became an aid

conditionality imposed by the donors on the recipient countries.