Governance

Prof. Ijaz Khan

 Governance The traditions and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised Kaufman et al The way power is exercised through a countrys economic, political, and social institutions. the World Banks PRSP Handbook. The exercise of economic, political, and administrative authority to manage a countrys 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.

 This study uses the definition adopted by the Commission on Global Governance as the sum of the many ways in which individuals and institutions, public and private, manage their common affairs [World Bank, 1994 and the Commission on Global Governance, 1995].

The six Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGIs),

The World Bank Institute has developed six indicators to study Governance Voice and Accountability, Political Stability Government Effectiveness Regulatory Quality Rule of Law Control of Corruption

Voice and Accountability

Voice: the capacity of all people including the poor and most marginalized to express views and interests and demand action of those in power. The focus is not on the creation of voice for its own sake but on the capacity to access information, scrutinize and demand answers with a view to influencing governance processes. Accountability: the capacity and will of those who set and, crucially, implement a societys rules including the executive at different levels and public officials to respond to citizens demands. Answerability and enforceability are critical dimensions of substantive accountability and real accountability implies some form of sanction be it through the ballot box, legal processes, institutional oversight bodies, or media exposure.

Political Stability

Political simply means acts that aims at and influences alteration or maintenance of distribution of patterns of power to make decisions for the society Stability means any thing done in peaceful and smooth and systematic manner to the satisfaction of and with participation of all divisions of a society with everyone playing the role expected/assigned of/to them

Government Effectiveness

service quality x quality of civil service and degree of independence from political pressures x quality of policy formulation x quality of financial management x credibility of the government's commitment to implement their policies

Voice and Accountability (VA) capturing perceptions of the extent to which a country's citizens are able to participate in selecting their government, as well as freedom of expression, freedom of association, and a free media. 2. Political Stability and Absence of Violence (PV) capturing perceptions of the likelihood that the government will be destabilized or overthrown by unconstitutional or violent means, including politically-motivated violence and terrorism. 3. Government Effectiveness (GE) capturing perceptions of the quality of public services, the quality of the civil service and the degree of its independence from political pressures, the quality of policy formulation and implementation, and the credibility of the government's commitment to such policies. 4. Regulatory Quality (RQ) capturing perceptions of the ability of the government to formulate and implement sound policies and regulations that permit and promote private sector development. 5. Rule of Law (RL) capturing perceptions of the extent to which agents have confidence in and abide by the rules of society, and in particular the quality of contract enforcement, property rights, the police, and the courts, as well as the likelihood of crime and violence. 6. Control of Corruption (CC) capturing perceptions of the extent to which public power is exercised for private gain, including both petty and grand forms of corruption, as well as "capture" of the state by elites and private interests.