Third WorldQuarterly, Vol21, No 5, pp 795 – 814, 2000 Governance,good governance and globalgovernance: conceptual and actualchallenges THOMASG WEISS ABSTRACT This article takes seriously the propositionthat ideas andconcepts, bothgood and bad, have an impacton international publicpolicy. It situates the emergenceof governance,good governance and global governance, as well as the UN’s role in the conceptualprocess. Although‘ governance’is as oldas humanhistory, this essay concentrates onthe intellectual debatesof the 1980s and1990 sbutexplores suchearlier UN-related ideas asdecolonisation,locali- sation andhuman rights, againstwhich more recent thinkinghas been played out.A central analytical perspective is the tension betweenmany academics and international practitioners whoemploy ‘ governance’to connotea complexset of structures andprocesses, bothpublic and private, while morepopular writers tendto use it synonymouslywith ‘government’. ‘Governance’is nowfashionable, but the conceptis as oldas humanhistory. 1 This essay concentrates onthe intellectual debates ofthe 1980sand1990 s, essentially since the term becamewidespread in developmentcircles and prominentin the international publicpolicy lexicon. Many academics and international practitioners employ‘ governance’to connotea complexset of structures andprocesses, bothpublic and private, while morepopular writers tendto use it synonymouslywith ‘government’. Governancefor the latter refers to characteristics that are generallyassociated with asystem ofnational administration. The New Webster’s International Dictionary denes the term in muchthe same wayas journalists fromthe New York Times or TheEconomist :‘act, manner,of ce, or power of governing; government’, ‘state ofbeing governed’ , or‘ methodof government or regu- lation’. As MortenBø aÊ s has shown,before being studied at the globallevel, governancewas employedgenerically in academic discourse. 2 It was, for instance, widelyused in relationship to business literature aboutthe micro- behaviourof rms. 3 GoranHyden has arguedthat it refers mainly to running governmentsand other public agencies orprivate oneswith social purposes. 4 Analysts ofinternational relations andinternational civil servants, in contrast, nowuse the term almost exclusively to describe phenomenathat gobeyond asynonymfor ‘ government’and the legal authoritywith whichsuch polities are vested.For instance, the Commission onGlobal Governance de nes ThomasG Weiss is atthePolitical Science Department,the CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue— Suite 5203,New York,NY10016-4309, USA. E-mail: [email protected]. ISSN0143-6597 print; 1360-2241 online/ 00/050795-20 Ó 2000 ThirdWorld Quarterly 795 THOMAS GWEISS ‘governance’as ‘the sum ofthe manyways individuals andinstitutions, public andprivate, manage their commonaffairs. It is the continuingprocess through whichcon icting ordiverse interests maybe accommodated and co-operative action maybe taken.’ 5 James Rosenauis the USacademic most closely associated with the term. Andfor him, whether at the grassroots orgloballevels, it ‘encompasses the activities ofgovernments, but it also includes the manyother channelsthrough which “ commands” owin the formof goals framed,direc- tives issued, andpolicies pursued’. 6 Somethingof an intellectual cottage industryhas arisen aroundthe term over the past twodecades. Since the early 1980s, ‘governance’and increasingly ‘good governance’have permeated development discourse andespecially research agendasand other activities fundedby public and private banksand bilateral donors.Moreover, publications byscholars andeminent commissions have extensively usedthe term forcontemporary global problem solving. 7 Theemergence of governance can be traced at the countrylevel to a disgruntlement with the state-dominated models ofeconomic and social developmentso prevalentthroughout the socialist blocand much of the Third Worldin the 1950s, 1960sand 1970 s. At the international level ‘global governance’can be traced to agrowingdissatisfaction amongstudents of international relations with the realist andliberal – institutionalist theories that dominatedthe studyof international organisationin the 1970sand1980 s. In particular, these failed to captureadequately the vast increase, in bothnumbers andin uence, of non-state actors andthe implications oftechnology in anage ofglobalisation. This article takes seriously the propositionthat ideas andconcepts, both good andbad, have an impact. Inpointing to the role ofpolicy and academic ‘scribblers’, JohnMaynard Keynes wrote in 1936that ‘the ideas ofeconomists andpolitical philosophers,both when they are right andwhen they are wrong, are morepowerful than is commonlyunderstood’ . 8 This essay thus seeks to correct the fact that ideas, whethereconomic or otherwise, have until recently beenignored by students ofinternational relations. 9 It situates the emergenceof governance,good governance and global governance, as well asthe role ofthe UnitedNations (UN),in the conceptualprocess. Governanceand good governance Theworld organisation was built onthe basis ofunquestioned national sovereignty.In spite ofarticle 2(7)of the UNCharter, sovereignty and non-interferencein the internal affairs ofstates havecome under re.As formerSecretary-General Boutros-Ghali wrote, ‘ Thetime ofabsolute and exclusive sovereignty,however, has passed’. 10 Sovereignty’s status and relevanceare contested increasingly within international organisations and forums.Moreover, the climate forgovernance has changedimmensely since the UN’s founding.Indeed, de nitions ofgovernance vary substantially, as is evidentfrom views ongovernance of various international organisations shownbelow. 796 GOVERNANCE, GOOD GOVERNANCE AND GLOBAL GOVERNANCE World Bank.Governanceis dened as the mannerin whichpower is exercised in the managementof a country’s economicand social resources. TheWorld Bank has identied three distinct aspects ofgovernance: (i) the formof political regime; (ii) the process bywhich authority is exercised in the managementof a country’s economicand social resources fordevelop- ment; and(iii) the capacity ofgovernments to design,formulate, and implement policies anddischarge functions. 11 UNDP.Governanceis viewedas the exercise ofeconomic, political and administrative authorityto managea country’s affairs at all levels. It comprises mechanisms, processes andinstitutions throughwhich citizens andgroups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations andmediate their differences. 12 OECD.Theconcept of governance denotes the use ofpolitical authorityand exercise ofcontrol in asociety in relation to the managementof its resources forsocial andeconomic development. This broadde nition encompasses the role ofpublic authorities in establishing the environmentin whicheconomic operators function and in determiningthe distribution of benets as well as the natureof the relationship betweenthe ruler andthe ruled.13 Institute of Governance,Ottawa .Governancecomprises the institutions, processes andconventions in asociety whichdetermine howpower is exercised,how important decisions affecting society are madeand how variousinterests are accordeda place in suchdecisions. 14 Commissionon Global Governance .Governanceis the sum ofthe many waysindividuals andinstitutions, publicand private, manage their common affairs. It is acontinuingprocess throughwhich con icting ordiverse interests maybe accommodated and co-operative action maybe taken. It includes formal institutions andregimes empoweredto enforcecompliance, as well as informal arrangementsthat peopleand institutions either have agreedto orperceive to bein their interest. 15 UNSecretary-General KoAnnan .Goodgovernance is ensuringrespect for humanrights andthe rule oflaw; strengtheningdemocracy; promoting transparencyand capacity in publicadministration. 16 InternationalInstitute of Administrative Sciences .Governancerefers to the process wherebyelements in society wield powerand authority, and inuence and enact policies anddecisions concerningpublic life, and economicand social development.Governance is abroadernotion than government.Governance involves interaction betweenthese formal institu- tions andthose ofcivil society. 17 TokyoInstitute of Technology .Theconcept of governance refers to the complexset ofvalues, norms, processes andinstitutions bywhich society managesits developmentand resolves conict, formally andinformally. 797 THOMAS GWEISS Itinvolvesthe state, butalso the civil society (economicand social actors, community-basedinstitutions andunstructured groups, the media,etc) at the local, national,regional and global levels. 18 Theemphasis is onthe past twodecades, even though there is arich history ofsuch earlier UN-relatedideas as decolonisation,localisation andhuman rights, against whichmore recent thinkinghas beenplayed out. What is important to note hereis the dramatic quantitative andqualitative shiftin the political ambienceat the UNsince the late 1950sand early 1960s.During the ColdWar, governmental representatives ofnewly independent countries weresuccess fully onthe defensive within UNandrelated international fora; theyremained largely untouchedby the rich scholarly debateabout the ‘newpolitical economy’, 19 ‘social capital’, 20 and ‘publicgoods’ . 21 Theyinterpreted virtually anyserious scrutiny oftheir economic andsocial choices as athreat to their newbornand weak states. Andthey remainedimpervious to the international political economyliterature ofthe 1970s and1980s that emphasised publicchoice