What is governance?
Definitions can be challenging, subtle, complex and
powerful. Let us begin by a definition of what
governance is not.
Governance is not synonymous with government.
This confusion of terms can have unfortunate
consequences. A public policy issue where the
heart of the matter is a problem of "governance”
becomes defined implicitly as a problem of
“government”, with the corollary that the onus for
“fixing” it necessarily rests with government.
Since governance is not about government, what is
it about? Partly it is about how governments and
other social organizations interact, how they relate
to citizens, and how decisions are taken in a
complex world. Thus governance is a process
whereby societies or organizations make their
important decisions, determine whom they involve
in the process and how they render account. Since a
process is hard to observe,
students of governance tend to focus our attention
on the governance system or framework upon which
the process rests - that is, the agreements,
procedures, conventions or policies that define who
gets power, how decisions are taken and how
accountability is rendered.