The Concept of

Governance &
Politics
Lesson objectives
 At the end of this discussion, you
will be able to:
• articulate the definition of politics and
governance;
• synthesize the related and theoretically related
concepts of governance; and
• comment on and criticize the meanings and
implications of various definitions of
governance.
Unlocking of Difficulties
• 1. Synthesize- to form (a material or abstract entity) by
combining parts or elements.
• 2. Venn Diagram- a diagram representing logical sets
pictorially as circles or other shapes where common elements
of the sets being represented by the areas of overlap among
the circles.
• 3. Editorial Cartoon- A political cartoon, a type of editorial
cartoon, is a graphic with caricatures of public figures,
expressing the artist's opinion.
Lecturette: The Concept of
Governance & Politics
 In most dictionaries “government” and
“governance” are interchangeably used,
both denoting the exercise of authority in
an organization, institution or state.
Government is the name given to the
entity exercising that authority.
Authority can most simply define as legitimate
power. Whereas power is the ability to
influence the behavior of others, authority is
the right to do so. Authority is therefore the
based on an acknowledged duty to obey
rather than on any form of coercion or
manipulation.
 Weber (2015) distinguished between three
kinds of authority, based on the different
grounds upon obedience can be established;
traditional authority is rooted in history,
charismatic authority stems from personality
and legal-authority is grounded in a set of
impersonal rules.
To study government is to study the exercise
of authority (Heywood, 1997).
Politics is the art of government, the
exercise of control within the society
through the making and enforcement of
collective decisions (Heywood 1997).
The realm of politics is restricted to state actors who are
consciously motivated by ideological beliefs, and who
seek to advance them through membership of a formal
organization such as a political organization. This is the
sense in which politicians are described as “political”
whereas civil servants are seen as “nonpolitical”, the
state as “public” and the civil society as “private”.
 Governance: Varying Definitions
Governance are:
• 1. “The traditions and institutions by which
authority in a country is exercised” – Kaufman et
al
• 2. The way “… power is exercised through a
country’s economic, political, and social
institutions.” – the World Bank’s Poverty
Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) Handbook.
3. “The sound exercises of political, economic, and
administrative authority to manage a country’s resources
for development. It involves the institutionalization of a
system through which citizens, institutions, organizations,
and groups in a society articulate their interests, exercise
their rights, and mediate their differences in pursuit of
the collective good “(Country Governance Assessment
2005).
4. “The exercise of economic, political, and
administrative authority to manage a country’s affairs at
all levels. It comprises mechanisms, processes, and
institutions through which citizens and groups articulate
their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their
obligations, and mediate their differences.” UNDP.
United Nations Development Programme
5. “The systems, processes and procedures put
in place to steer the direction, management and
accountability of an organization.” Birmingham
City Council.
The Institute on Governance defines governance as
the process whereby societies or organizations
make their important decisions, determine who
has voice, who is engaged in the process and how
account is rendered (IOG, 2006). The Institute also
provides a framework to further establish the
concept of governance as shown below:
 The need for governance exists anytime
a group of people come together to
accomplish an end. Most agree that the
central component of governance is
decision making. It is the process through
which this group of people make
decisions that direct their collective
efforts. (See figure 1)
 If the group is too large to efficiently make all
necessary decisions, it creates an entity to
facilitate the process. Group members
delegate a large portion of the decision
making responsibility to this entity. In
voluntary sector organizations this entity is the
board of directors. One simple definition of
governance is "the art of steering societies
and organizations." Governance is about the
more strategic aspects of steering, making the
larger decisions about both direction and
roles.
• Some observers criticize this definition as being too
simple. Steering suggests that governance is a
straightforward process, akin to a steersman in a boat.
These critics assert that governance is neither simple
nor neat — by nature it may be messy, tentative,
unpredictable and fluid. Governance is complicated by
the fact that it involves multiple actors, not a single
helmsman.
• These multiple actors are the organization's
stakeholders. (See figure 2) They articulate their
interests; influence how decisions are made, who the
decision-makers are and what decisions are taken.
• Source: Institute on Governance http://www.iog.ca
 Decision-makers must absorb this
input into the decision-making
process. Decision-makers are then
accountable to those same
stakeholders for the organization's
output and the process of producing it.
see Fig.3
 Lecturette: Governance &
Sustainable Human Development
• The United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) believes that developing the capacity of
good governance is the primordial way to
eliminate poverty. Notions of good governance
and the link between governance and
sustainable human development vary greatly,
however, both in academic literature and among
development practitioners (UNDP, 1997).
• There are five aspects to sustainable
human development - all affecting the
lives of the poor and vulnerable:
• Empowerment
• Co-operation
• Equity
• Sustainability
• Security
• Empowerment - The expansion of men and
women's capabilities and choices increases
their ability to exercise those choices free of
hunger, want and deprivation. It also increases
their opportunity to participate in, or endorse,
decision-making affecting their lives
• Co-operation - With a sense of belonging
important for personal fulfillment, wellbeing
and a sense of purpose and meaning, human
development is concerned with the ways in
which people work together and interact.
• Equity - The expansion of capabilities and
opportunities means more than income - it
also means equity, such as an educational
system to which everybody should have
access.
•  Sustainability - The needs of this generation
must be met without compromising the right
of future generations to be free of poverty and
deprivation and to exercise their basic
capabilities.
• Security - Particularly the security of
livelihood. People need to be freed from
threats, such as disease or repression
and from sudden harmful disruptions in
their lives.
 UNDP focuses on four critical elements of
sustainable human development: eliminating
poverty, creating jobs and sustaining livelihoods,
protecting and regenerating the environment, and
promoting the advancement of women.
Developing the capacities for good governance
underpins all these objectives.
The Need for Good Governance:
Why Governance Matters
Good governance creates a strong future for an
organization by continuously steering towards a
vision and making sure that day-to-day
management is always lined up with the
organization’s goals. At its core, governance is
about leadership.
• Poor governance can put organizations at
risk of commercial failure, financial and legal
problems for directors/trustees or allow an
organization to lose sight of its purpose and
its responsibilities to its owners and people
who benefit from its success.
 The Rights-Based Approach to governance implies that
the holders of rights should also participate fully in
deciding how those rights are fulfilled, such as through
participation and greater empowerment. And as the
Millennium Declaration emphasizes, one of the most
important requirements for achieving this and the MDG
(Millennium Development Goals) is “governance”.
 The report points out that Asia and the
Pacific has many diverse forms of
democratic governments. In some cases
these have involved highly centralized
administrations that have offered a limited
space for popular participation.
 Another vital attribute of governance in
MDGs is efficient and effective
administration. Being effective is about
doing the right things, while
being efficient is about doing things right.
 Theories of Governance
If Max Weber and Woodrow Wilson were
to suddenly appear on the landscape of
modern public administration, normative
theories in hand, it is likely they would be
unable to recognize the field of
governance.
• Essentially, governance is a political
theory while NPM is an
organizational theory (Peters and
Pierre, 1998).
Stoker (1998) draws five propositions to
frame our understanding of the critical
questions that governance theory should
help us answer. He acknowledges that
each proposition implies a dilemma or
critical issue.
 1. Governance refers to
institutions and actors from within
and beyond government.
 2. Governance identifies the
blurring of boundaries and
responsibilities for tackling social
and economic issues.
 3. Governance identifies the
power dependence involved in the
relationships between institutions
involved in collective action.
 4. Governance is about
autonomous self-governing
networks of actors.
 5. Governance recognizes the
capacity to get things done which
does not rest on the power of
government to command or use
its authority.
As Peters and Pierre (1998) note, “governance is
about maintaining public-sector resources under
some degree of political control and developing
strategies to sustain government’s capacity to act”
in the face of management tools that replace
highly centralized, hierarchical structures with
decentralized management environments where
decisions on resource allocation and service
delivery are made closer to the point of delivery.