Governance as a concept

This review is drawn from (Hasan, Sacha. 2012, Civil Society Participation in Urban Development in Syria).

The dictionary of human geography identified two different uses of the term ‘governance’.  The first is consistent with the nature of organizations as it refers to “the involvement of a wide range of institutions and actors in the production of policy outcomes, including non-governmental organizations, quangos, private companies, pressure groups and social movements as well as the state institutions traditionally regarded as a formal part of the government. Here ‘governance’ is a broader category than ‘government’, with government being one component of governance among many” (Johnston, et al., 2000 pp. 316-317).


The second definition refers to the nature of the organizations’ relationships. Here, governance “refers to a particular form of coordination. In contrast with the top-down control in coordination through hierarchy and the individualized relationship in coordination through markets, governance involves coordination through networks and partnerships” (Johnston, et al., 2000 pp. 316-317).

International agencies, which promote ‘good’ governance (for example: the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank), tend to adapt a normative definition which is confined in its focus on economic management issues rather than a more analytically and socially oriented one. Michel Camdessus (IMF managing director), for example, suggested that “good governance is important for countries at all stages of development. . . . Our approach is to concentrate on those aspects of good governance that are most closely related to our surveillance over macroeconomic policies—namely, the transparency of government accounts, the effectiveness of public resource management, and the stability and transparency of the economic and regulatory environment for private sector activity.” (IMF, 1997).

In contrast, UN agencies see good governance from a more socially oriented perspective . The UN defines ‘good governance’ as promoting “equity, participation, pluralism, transparency, accountability and the role of law, in a manner that is effective, efficient and enduring” (UN, 2011a). The UN system promotes good governance through many avenues. For example, The UN Development Programme (UNDP) actively supports national processes of democratic transition.  The programme focuses  on “providing policy advice and technical support and strengthening the capacity of institutions and individuals” by boosting advocacy and communications, public information campaigns and brokering dialogue. It also facilitates ‘knowledge networking’ and the sharing of good practice (UN, 2011a).

It is now widely accepted that “governance is much more than the formal institutions of government. Governance includes the whole range of actors within society, such as community based or grass-roots organizations, NGOs, trade unions, religious organizations and businesses, both formal and informal, alongside the various branches of government and governmental agencies, both national and local” (Devas, 2001 pp. 5-6). Here it is important to note that governance is different from government as it goes beyond governmental organisations to include other actors in society such as civil society and the private sector. Besides, it is more concerned with the nature of the relationships between these actors rather than being limited to the state’s way of managing the country. In recent research, governance is seen as the sphere of relationships between government, actors of civil society and the private sector, also referring to the processes of interaction between these (Carley, et al., 2001 pp. 16-30).

To conclude, ‘governance’ is an evolving and contested concept, which is a healthy issue as it invites the possibility for further development towards a wider definition of it.