Five principles of good governance
Defining the principles of good governance is
difficult and controversial. The United Nations
Development Program (UNDP “Governance and
Sustainable Human Development, 1997”)
enunciates a set of principles that, with slight
variations, appear in much of the literature. There is
strong evidence that these UNDP – based principles
have a claim to universal recognition. In grouping
them under five broad themes, we recognize that
these principles often overlap or are conflicting at
some point, that they play out in practice according
to the actual social context, that applying such
principles is complex, and that they are all about not
only the results of power but how well it is
exercised.