TOWARD A SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH OF GOOD GOVERNANCE
Keywords:
governance, good governance, democratic consolidation, methodology, cross-country statistical analysisAbstract
In the last decades, the concept of “good governance” has become very important in assessing the progresses of the developing countries. While some practitioners from international organizations have used the good governance as a working tool, scholars in social and political sciences have considered it as a “holistic approach” or a development paradigm. In the meantime, the concept of good governance has become “popular” within scientists, policymakers, bureaucrats, politicians, NGO’s activists, and within the so-called “international donor community”. This paper discusses the emergence of the concept of good governance from a sociological perspective, aiming to highlight the differences and similarities of international donor community (IDC) versus academia, by looking at the methods and techniques used to assess the performances of the developing countries. According to the World Bank, good governance is defined as the capacity of the government to manage a nation’s affaires, to provide economic development and welfare for citizens. IMF focuses on macro-economic and financial stability, expenditure control, budget management, revenue control. The UNDP’s emphasis is on participation and involvement of citizens in public policymaking process, reducing poverty, respect for human rights, and social protection for poor. Unlike the IDC’s approach and being inspired by Max Weber sociological writings, the academic approach of good governance is interesting about the implementing public policies through the exercise of power by political elites that decides what decision can be taken in a certain context. In addition, this paper offers a comparative approach of good governance based on World Bank’s Methodology with a focus on Romania after the admission to the European Union (2007).References
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