A Broader View of Governance
The United Nations, in the 1990s, helped to reconceptualize governance,
defining it as “the exercise of political, economic and administrative authority
in the management of a country’s affairs.”17 The United Nations Development
Program perceived of governance as those institutions and processes through
which government, civil society organizations, and the private sector interact
with each other in shaping public affairs and through which citizens articulate
their interests, mediate their differences, and exercise their political, economic,
and social rights.
This broader concept of governance viewed decisionmaking as not only the
province of government but also the right and obligation of citizens as members
of a free electorate mobilized through social organizations and the private sector.
Democratic governance implied a mandate for governments to create or
strengthen channels and mechanisms for public participation in decisionmaking,
to abide by the rule of law, to increase transparency in public procedures, and to
hold officials accountable.18 The case for democratic governance was based on
two arguments: first, that it provides an institutional framework for participation
by all citizens in economic and political processes; and second, that it promotes
core, universal human rights and values as ends in themselves. Democratic
governance implied that the state would ensure free and fair elections; appropriately
decentralize power and resources to local communities; protect the
independence of the judiciary and access to justice; maintain an effectively
functioning civil service; ensure the separation of powers; safeguard access to
information and the independence of the media; protect basic human rights,
freedom of enterprise, and freedom of expression; and pursue sound economic
policies.