Introduction
The goal of this first inaugural conference of AMEPPA was a very important one. As the
conference site noted, AMEPPA's inaugural conference provided a welcoming venue for
academics and practitioners to come together to explore how public policy and administration
professionals can contribute to the region's transformation. The conference presented emerging
ideas, new lessons from experience, and timely research findings to shape public policy and
administration.
As president of the International Association of Schools and Institutes in Administration,
I would like to congratulate the organizers with this excellent initiative and to thank them for the
opportunity to deliver the keynote speech. At the same time this possibility enforced me to be
modest in what I can tell you. I have not been part in the courageous demonstrations which
showed that governance in many parts of this region has not been good enough. The Arab spring
yearned for better governance, if not good governance.
The questions arising are what it is to have good governance, how to achieve that, and
what are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in such a pursuit. This presentation
will address some of the challenges involved in such a pursuit. First I will define governance,
which is not so easy given that a myriad of definitions can and have been given. The same goes
inter alia for the prefix “good” in the combination “good governance”. I will argue that Merilee
Grindle was right when she concluded that striving for good governance as an ideal situation
poses serious threats (Grindle, 2004)