Governance as structure
We will begin by thinking about governance in structural terms. That is, one reasonable assumption about the variety of political and economic institutions that have been created over time is that they were designed (or evolved) to address problems of governance. Each of the four structural arrangements we will be discussing addresses the problem of providing direction to society and economy in its own way. Each appears effective in solving some parts of the governance problem, but each also has its weaknesses. Further, each of the ‘solutions’ is bound in cultural and temporal terms so they may be effective in some places and at some times, but may not be a panacea for all problems.