Good Governance: Key Elements

Good Governance: Key Elements

Question : Good governance is the key to effective development and citizen empowerment. Discuss what the key elements of good governance are?

- One of the chief elements of good governance is people at the centre of development wherein it is pro people and pro-active

- Governance was initially defined as “the exercise of political power to manage a nation’s affairs” by WB

- Over the years, WB expanded the governance model to include elements of a liberal democracy

- Efficient management involves a marriage between governance and development

- WB expanded the governance model to include elements of liberal democracy such as legal frame for enforcement of contracts, accountability etc

- Accountability, transparency, empowerment and citizen participation are important aspects of good governance

- e-Governance, m-Governance are some of the key aspects of using technology to assist in good governance

Facts and Stats

- Governance was a term first used in a 1989 World Bank report on African economies

- The organisation was trying to account for the failure of its SAP/Structural Adjustment Programme as a “crisis of governance.”