Good Governance: Definitions, 8
Characteristics, And Importance
March 23, 2022 by Avijit Biswas
What is Good Governance?
Governance as the normative sense has given the concept of ‘Good
Governance’. It refers to the welfare in governance and improving the quality
of governance. It enables the government to provide equal opportunities and
fair delivery of goods and services to the people who are most marginal in
society.
Good governance refers to mobilizing the people of a country in the best
direction possible. It requires the unity of people in society and motivates
them to attain political objectivity. In other words; It ensures proper
utilization of all the resources of the state for its citizens which ensures
sustainable development.
Definitions of Good Governance
According to the world bank (1992) “good governance is central to creating
and sustaining an environment which fosters strong and equitable
development and it is an essential complement to sound economic policies”.
According to UNDP, “Good Governance is, among other things, participatory,
transparent and accountable. It is also effective and equitable. And it promotes
the rule of law. Good governance ensures that political, social, and economic
priorities are based on broad consensus in society and that the voices of the
poorest and the most vulnerable are heard in decision making over the
allocation of development resources”
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has defined the concept “as a broad
concept covering all aspects of how a country is governed, including its
economic policies, regulatory framework, and adherence to rule of law”.
The IMF very much emphasized promoting the concept of mainly two areas:
• The management of public resources through reforms covering
public sector institutions and
The development and maintenance of a transparent and stable
•
economic and regulatory environment conducive to private sector
activities.
Mohit Bhattacharya (2013) has been discussed the recent developments of
good governance in three ways:
1. It is an attempt to widen the scope of public administration by
going beyond the formal government.
2. It is an externally dictated term invented to prescribe aid-
conditionality.
3. It is a more genuinely democratic intensifying concept- to make
public administration more open, transparent, and accountable.
He has also opined that good governance needs to be discussed beyond the
World Bank and other funding agencies have been representing this. “A more
creative approach would be to treat the issues as new opportunities to have a
fresh look at state-civil society relationships in today’s complex world of
governance”.
8 Major Characteristics of Good
Governance
Characteristics of Good Governance
Governance needs some parameters to make it good. From the above
definitions, we can be said that good governance has some Characteristics or
indicators for the establishment of sound economic management and
ensuring the relationship between the state and civil society. From the study of
World Bank documents and several studies, there are 8 major characteristics
of good governance. These are mentioned below-
1. Participation
2. Rule of Law
3. Transparency
4. Responsiveness
5. Consensus Oriented
6. Equity and Inclusiveness
7. Effectiveness and Efficiency
8. Accountability
1. Participation
The participation of citizens in the process of governance is the key
characteristics of good governance. Participation as an important step for
mobilizing people to participate in the decision-making process. It can be
direct or indirect but Participation needs to be informed and organized. The
aims and objectives of the political rights would be fulfilled by the greater
participation of the people in the society. The legal framework represents the
rule of law which ensures impartiality in terms of participation in the decision-
making process of governance.
2. Rule of Law
Another important characteristic of good governance is rule of law. It needs
a fair legal framework to establish rule of law in society. Rule of law ensures
impartiality which helps to protect human rights, particularly who is most
marginal in society. The Independent judiciary system, its impartial nature, and
the incorruptible police force are the key element to ensure rule of law.
3. Transparency
Governance needs transparency for the fair delivery of services to the citizens.
It ensures a balance between policymaking and its enforcement following
proper rules and regulations. It enables the citizen to access governmental
information regarding various policies and their implementation freely. Proper
media should be established for an easy understanding of this information.
4. Responsiveness
Responsiveness has a basic necessity of the administration which can motivate
the interrelationships between administration and people. It requires sufficient
services to the people within a specific time.
5. Consensus Oriented
Governance depends on the consensus of people in society to make it good. It
could fulfill the interest of the people as well as the community. It helped to
achieve the long-term perspective of human development. And it originated
from the social culture and institutional behaviors of the particular society.
6. Equity and Inclusiveness
An equitable just society must be established for ensuring good governance.
Society’s well being depends on how its members feel about it. It requires all
its members feel that they have a stake in it and they are not excluded from
the mainstream in the governance.
7. Effectiveness and Efficiency:
Effectiveness and efficiency ensure the outcomes of the institutions to meet
the needs of society. Proper utilization of society’s resources for the
establishment of sustainable development is the key to good governance. It
also ensures the sustainable use of natural resources for the protection of the
environment.
8. Accountability
Accountability is one of the most important characteristics of good
governance. Good governance depends on how accountable Governmental
as well as private sectors and civil society organization to their people and its
institutional stakeholders. Without transparency and rule of law,
accountability cannot be established.
Importance of Good Governance
The importance of good governance in a state is immense. Sustainable
development is not possible without good governance.
Economic Development
Without good governance in a state, the economic development of that state
is not stable. All elements of economic development, such as production,
distribution, investment, and even consumption, face various obstacles. If
good governance is established, such obstacles will be removed and the fair
distribution of state resources will be possible.
Social Development
Good governance is essential for social development. The role of it does not
end only with economic development. The result of development ensures that
every class of people in society enjoys the basis of fairness. People of different
religions, castes, and classes live in a society. Now, if there is no fair
distribution of wealth among all these people, social discontent will increase.
Again, the proper distribution of wealth is not enough. We have to make
arrangements so that the minority people can walk without fear. In the same
way, various reform laws have to be enacted to reduce the gap between men
and women in society.
Political Development
Its relationship with political development is quite important. If the political
leaders of a country are not active in establishing good governance, then its
establishment in that country is not [Link] success depends largely on the
sincerity of the political leadership and adherence to the rules and regulations
of the political establishment.
The constructive cooperation between the political institutions and the
political parties and the formulation of programs for the welfare of the people
play an important role in establishing good competition and good governance
among themselves. For example, in a democracy, mutual cooperation between
the government and the opposition helps to establish it in the country.
Conclusion
In conclusion, good governance is the proper management of the state,
society, and resources. It seeks to protect the interests of people from all
classes. It emphasizes on public sector management, the legal framework for
development, accountability, transparency, and free flow of information.
When good governance is established in a state, people can easily guess it by
some of its characteristics. Then characteristics of good governance like
Participation, Rule of Law, Transparency, Responsiveness, Consensus Oriented,
Equity and Inclusiveness, Effectiveness and Efficiency, Accountability can be
easily noticed.
There is good governance for political, economic, and social development.
Good governance and development complement each other. It protects the
social, economic, and political rights of citizens irrespective of race, religion,
caste, gender. As a result, a country’s development index tends to go up.
