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By John Samuel
It's definitely not just the effective management of economic resources, as the World Bank believes. It's about freedom, human rights, public accountability and people's participation
Governance is the process of exercising different forms of power (social, political, economic and administrative) within various institutional arenas. The concept of governance has grown over the last 15 years and gone beyond the conventional confines of the nation-state. The Human Development Report, for instance, describes governance as “the exercise of power or authority -- political, economic, administrative or otherwise -- to manage a country’s resources and affairs. It comprises the mechanisms, processes and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations and mediate their differences”.
Development practitioners are faced with multiple perspectives and perceptions on governance. Which of these really make sense? The dominant discourse of ‘good governance’ is promoted by the World Bank and other proponents of neo-liberal economic globalisation. ‘Good’ governance is primarily a way of effectively managing economic resources; it is largely apolitical in nature. It’s a techno-managerial approach that focuses on decentralisation, transparency and report cards as ways to ensure macro-economic management as proposed by the Bretton Woods mandarins.
On the other hand, a rights-based approach to governance is about power-relationships within and beyond institutions and is based on the notion of accountability and answerability.
Governance is the site of unequal and often unjust power relations, where patriarchy is reinforced through various forms of marginalisation and oppression. The assertion of rights by the people and marginalised groups demands a transformation of power relations within the arenas of governance. This means that accountability is a prerequisite to realising rights, particularly socio-economic rights. From this perspective, we need to build a theory and practice of governance based on five pillars -- distributive justice, human rights, public accountability and transparency, peoples’ participation and citizens’ legitimacy. These five principles together constitute the notion of people-centred governance.
Governance is – or should be -- of crucial interest to citizens, particularly the marginalised, because it is the arena in which public policies are formulated, legitimised and implemented. Governance also provides the institutional means to claim rights and seek justice through justice delivery systems. It is the interface through which citizens mediate and interact with the State and seek accountability. Governance represents the macro and micro power relationships within the social, political and economic arena. Neo-liberal economic globalisation, propounded by the Bretton Woods institutions and G-8 countries, often seeks to reshape governance systems and processes in such a way that policies and political processes in poor countries can be controlled by the dominant powers.
Fighting poverty and injustice requires the realisation of rights and justice through accountable governance. Governance becomes accountable only when people are empowered to ask questions, seek justice and claim participation. Thus, accountable governance and empowerment of the marginalised are integral to claiming rights and fighting poverty and injustice. It is this people-centred and rights-based (political) approach to governance that should inform advocacy for governance.
The good governance paradigm fails to question the unequal and unjust macroeconomic framework that serves the interests of rich countries and rich people and perpetuates inequality and poverty. It does not emphasise the notion of freedom and rights. Hence, the good governance paradigm fails to ensure accountability from global institutions like the Bank, UN, IMF, WTO and G-8. Malaysia and Indonesia were supposed to have good governance according to the parameters of the IMF and WB, though its citizens were denied freedom.
There are six broad clusters that can be considered under people-centred and rights-based governance:
- Governance and Development: Development is the realisation of all human rights, particularly socio-economic rights, wherein people can enjoy freedom from fear and freedom from want and live a life of dignity. Accountable (accountability and answerability are functions of power and hence political rather than technical) governance is a means towards claiming socio-economic rights. It is in this context that the Millennium Declaration and MDGs become important policy promises that help us seek accountability from powerholders in governance, whether local, national, global or dominant.
- Governance and Participation: The political participation of citizens, particularly women, requires both socio-political mobilisation and the knowledge/capacity to monitor governance. This requires both knowledge-based activism and grassroots mobilisation. Participation is the sharing of power and the ability to influence the process and outcome of decision-making. Participation becomes meaningful when people have enabling spaces, mechanisms and the power to participate. The monitoring of governance is a way to participate in governance and policymaking and influence processes.
- Governance and Rights: The institutional approach to governance requires the monitoring of the judicial delivery system and the executive. Monitoring institutions of governance (as distinct from monitoring public policies) like the legislature, executive, judiciary and media is crucial in asserting and advancing rights by reinforcing accountability within the institutional arena.
- Corporate Accountability: Big corporations and capital markets increasingly shape economic governance. And economic governance has taken precedence over both political and social governance. The key shapers and movers of economic governance are the unaccountable and non-transparent multinational corporations that control the market and media and thrive on unaccountable and unjust governance systems. In this process, shareholders, consumers, communities and employees get marginalised and lose their power to seek accountability. S eeking accountability and monitoring the action and governance of big corporations will challenge their influence on institutions of governance within the State and also force accountability within the market.
- Democratising Global Governance: There are new supranational and international institutions that wield more power than governments in the developing world. These institutions, particularly the IMF, World Bank, WTO and various regional banks (such as the Asian Development Bank) tend to seek accountability from national governments for the economic and political conditions imposed on them. The problem is that when unaccountable and undemocratic organisations like the World Bank or IMF seek accountability and ‘promote’ democracy, they promote unequal and unjust power relations that thrive on a patriarchal relationship between the rich and poor countries or the old colonial masters or new imperialists and their erstwhile colonies of poor countries. Democratising global governance institutions and accountability and transparency are therefore part of our struggle against unjust institutional systems that perpetuate poverty.
- Accountable Civil Society Organisations: Accountability cannot be a one-way street. CSOs must be accountable too. The legitimacy of CSOs and NGOs is being increasingly questioned as many of them are perceived as ‘private initiatives’ (enterprises or businesses) for the public good. Many of these institutions are seen as private contractors for public development. A rights-based approach requires that all organisations that work with civil society or within civil society need to be transparent and accountable. This can only be done when there is a governance system that promotes accountability, transparency, rights and participation: all these together provide moral and political legitimacy to such organisations.
There are a number of good methods and approaches to promote accountable governance: budget tracking, participatory monitoring, planning processes, citizens’ charters, report cards, women’s political participation, public hearings, and public interest litigation are some effective tools. But all these are only possible when people are empowered to ask questions, seek accountability and claim their rights from all the institutions that seek to monopolise and control power at the social, political and economic level. Our perspective on governance should be informed by the perspective of people’s empowerment, participation, public accountability and transparency, human rights and legitimacy based on the principles of democracy.
InfoChange News & Features, November 2004
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