ABSTRACT
Governance has become a concept that includes more and more phenomena related to the
steering of societal developments. The steering of developments had to be left to societal actors
and had to be accomplished through networks in which hierarchy hardly played a role. The term
“good governance” is abused by using so many indicators that it becomes nearly impossible to
achieve good governance. At the same time, many governments but are also locked in conflicts
of interests between trying to do the right things and doing the urgently needed things right. It is
not self-evident that improving governance will result in a reduction of the societal and
managerial problems. The innovations may provide short term responses to serious governance
deficits, but may not provide long term solutions to them. This article addresses trade-offs and
dilemmas in citizens’ responsibility for the development of policies were the basic right of each
individual is respected while difficult choices can be made more democratically.
Keywords: Good governance, democratic governance, government improvement, citizen rights.