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DOI: DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21088/ijpos.2454.9371.3217.3

Abstract

 Governance refers to the process or function of exercising legitimate authority to regulate affairs of people in a given territory. It is the process of decision making and the process by which decisions are implemented or not implemented. Governance discourses emerged into Public Administration as a part of the discourses on development because bad governance or misgovernance has identified as the reason for underdevelopment. Good governance as an idea is the byproduct of the agenda of international donor agencies like the World Bank and International Monetory Fund (IMF) which tries to change Public Administration into a market oriented administration. Good governance was defined by these donor agencies as the governance which is accountable, transparent, responsive, efficient, participatory and democratic. Though these agencies introduced these models as means to promote the market by downsizing government, this concept can be used in its true sense also. The application of the concept depends on the context into which it is applied. In the era of neoliberal globalisation the idea of good governance was spread in the developing world, as most of the developing nations depend on the donor agencies for financial support. Thus good governance will be the engine for development in a liberalized economy.

Keywords: Good Governance; Development; Democracy; Civil Society; Globalisation.

Corresponding Author : K.S. Pavithran, Professor and Head, Department of Political Science and Director, K.M. Centre for West Asian Studies and Indian Ocean Studies, University of Calicut, Malappuram, Kerala 673635, India.