APPROACH AND STRUCTURE
1. Write an introduction by defining govt. and governance.
2. Write about factors responsible for shift.
3. Discuss part: governance is not new and was prevalent in the past too.
4. Conclude.
INTRODUCTION: PA has witnessed a paradigmatic shift from government to governance in late 20th century. Government refers to a collective set of representatives elected by people to serve their purposes. Governance is a wider term of getting the things done.
BODY: The term Governance has Greek origin which means to steer and was first used by Plato, but as far as practice is concerned it is as old as system of government and in traditional sense it means to exercise of authority or administering people, but in contemporary sense it is considered as collective process of decision making. Governance emerged in 1980s/90s as a collective/participative process of decision making in which all the concerned stakeholders participate to solve the problems of the society.
In the 1992 report titled “Governance and Development”, the World Bank gave the definition of Governance. It defined Governance as “the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country’s economic and social resources for development”.
THE CONCEPT: Based on the presumption that government alone cannot take effective decisions and implement them, Governance deals with the operational part of the administration and prescribes that if a state is governed collectively through the participation of the public, private and civil society organisations, then only it will be governed effectively. In general, the term Governance connotes to the collective process of decision making in which all the three stakeholders of the society participate wherein all three are considered as equals.
Rhodes has given 6 different meaning of governance:
1. Minimal state
2. NPM
3. GG
4. Corporate governance
5. Socio‐cybernatic system
6. Network governance
| S NO. | CONTEXT | EXPLANATION |
| 1 | World Bank Reports |
The 1989 report of World Bank: From Crisis to Sustainable Growth-Sub Saharan Africa pointed out a crisis of governance in these countries. The bank found that the aid and other assistance given to them have not been properly utilized due to poor state capacity, corruption, inefficiency etc. In this report the Bank identified conditions for governance like participation, rule of law, accountability, etc. The WB also imposed conditionalities and offered prescription for “governance. Later in other two reports in 1992 and 1997 namely, governance and devilment and The state in 21st century, the bank has outlined various other features of governance and also defined what is “good” governance. |
| 2 | Ideological Foundations
|
The underlying ideology of governance model of PA has been the New Right philosophy popularized by Hayek, Freidman, Nozik et al who advocated a neoliberalism. The problems of humanity have been located in the state and PA and the solutions are given as free economy, privatization, downsizing, de bureaucratization, etc. For instance, Freidman even said that market is the most capable instrument for realizing the social goals of society. Besides, Thatcherism/Reaganism and LPG movement provided base to move from government to governance. |
| 3 | The success stories of South East Asian Nations |
The remarkable success stories of the soft authoritarian nations of the SEA have influenced the governance paradigm immensely. Such successful strategies have been prescribed under governance model of PA. |
| 4 | Publications and scholarly works |
The Reinventing Government written by Osborne and Gaebler’s pointed out that what we need is not big government but better governance. They defined governance as collectively solving the problems of society and this has influenced the conceptualization of governance and thus the role of civil society and market got emphasized in governance. |
| 5 | Global Politics |
The disintegration of USSR, the fall of Berlin wall and the triumph of capitalism over communism established a unipolar world. The West assumed supremacy and developing countries in need of aid were asked to adopt the model of governance. |
| 6 | Poor governance |
Governance was characterized by inefficiency and lacked quality in timely delivery of services. |
| 7 | Traditional Public Administration |
Government had become leviathan type marked by old structures. It was resistant to the innovative concepts and thus it needed complete overhaul. |
| 8 | Others |
The forces of Globalisation, the ascendancy and also the inadequacies of NPM, the rising democratic consciousness, the complexity of governmental operations, greater role of NGOs, devolution etc. are other contextual factors. |
All the above factors dealt with how to increase efficiency of the state, how to deliver services efficienctly to the people, how to govern effectively, how to address the problem of poor governance which is located in the market philosophy so overall movement was launched to move from government to governance.
Whatever machineries of govt. were adopted before 1950s seemed to be outdated and at the same time failing these things promoted the ideas of governance which were heralded by WB. So, it became the dominant paradigm of the PA known as governance paradigm.
Discuss part:However, it’s not the new concept. Practices were present in ancient as well as modern times but its emphasis that there should be equal participation by all thre stakeholders and they should have a participative solution that became new in the discipline of public administration.
CONCLUSION: Both government and governance are interlinked and are often used interchangeably. Governance depends upon government because govt. sets the priorities of itself which ultimately influences governance. For instance, recent government has focuse on Minimum Government Maximum Governance, Mygov portal which shall boost the participation of different stakeholders and boost the governance.
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