How Realistic is it to expect Good Government?

 “Notes on Good governance” was the subtitle of a book I wrote in 1999 called “In Transit” - but the concept is one of which I’ve been not only sharply critical but downright dismissive. But surely we all support such things as transparency, rule of law, accountability and effective public bodies – the notions that lie at the heart of “good governance”?? My problem was that, in the 1990s, these became largely Western ideas (some of them very recent) which we were imposing on non-Western nations and expecting them to imitate when we ourselves have proved incapable of living up to these high standards.

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Ralf Dahrendorf had warned that it would take at least a generation for the Rule of Law to become properly embedded and enforced in ex-communist societies. Thirty years later that’s looking a shade optimistic!

In the new millennium a Harvard Professor, Merilee Grindle, suggested in an article entitled Good Enough Governance that we tone down our expectations and gave us what is probably the definitive paper for this discussion - Good Governance Revisited (2005) – particularly with its tables and diagram detailing the variety of issues and stages at stake….

My reservation stems from the fact that Grindle’s paper focuses on what we used to call the “developing” nations and fails to recognise that the Eastern bloc of new EU member states still lack the basic standards of “good governance” – she is, after all, more of a specialist in Latin American systems. The paper offers a five-fold typology of government – “collapsed”, “personal rule”, “minimally institutionalised”, “institutionalised, non-competitive states” and “institutionalised, competitive states” but seems a bit crude to me and to need nuancing. Countries such as Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Romania perhaps need a category of their own.

For the moment, I offer some generalised comments on the difficulties all countries face in seeking to achieve better government. This, of course, begs the question of how many countries are genuinely seeking to improve their systems

Why progress toward Better Government is difficult

Key Principles	What it should mean	Reality
Accountability	Elections allow the electorate to get rid of governments pursuing unpopular policies Ministers take responsibility for departmental performance Government propose and oppositions dispute	Globalisation and neoliberalism have homogenised policies – “they’re all the same” Noone resigns nowadays opposition increasingly cast as disloyal
Transparency	Those in power accept responsibility for their actions Mass media take their responsibilities for exposing misdeeds seriously	Public Relations cover up mistakes Media focuses now on spectacle Whistle-blowers prosecuted
Rule of Law	Noone is above the law Justice is neutral and judges fair-minded Money can’t buy favours People respect the law	Various legal scandals have demonstrated judicial incompetence - and that justice commands a price. Judges have been socialised into the elite and find it difficult to challenge their own – and in ex-communist countries belong to networks The US system is based on massive transfer of corporate money to politicians even the basic issue of political succession is now open to doubt; and Republican states bar blacks from voting
Effective public institutions	Public bodies adequately funded Their performance measured and open to challenge Politicians propose and civil servants advise	Austerity programmes have weakened the efficacy of state bodies The traditional notion of civil service independence now questioned increased politicisation

We have, of course, become much more cynical since 1989. Our trust in both public and private organisations has crashed spectacularly. On Thinking Institutionally was a rare book by Hugh Heclo which explored this issue in 2008. Pages 18-20 give a timeline exposing the development of political distrust in the USA

Even people understood to be conservatives—at least in the way we conceptualize political ideology today—assail institutions. Free market economics places a premium on self-interest and assumes institutions stifle innovation and entrepreneurship.
But institutions provide reference points in an uncertain world. They tie us to the past and present; furnish personal assistance; and institutionalize trust.

In his final Presidential address in 1960, Eisenhower left us with this warning

We . . . must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.

The best writing on the subject
 “Democracy for Sale - dark money and dirty politics”; by Peter Geoghegan (2020). A study of the worrying trends which have been seen in the UK in the past decade

Fighting Systemic Corruption – the indirect strategy Bo Rothstein 2018 
His Quality of Government Unit contains the most important analysts of government systems

Making development work – the quality of government approach Bo Rothstein 2015 An important report It’s more than 100 pages long so this shorter powerpoint presentation may be more helpful 

”How Corrupt is Britain?” Ed by D Whyte (2015) a collection of essays about most key institutions of the country ie policing, government and the corporate sector

Bringing politics back in ; Brian Levy (2013) Brian Levy is another economist – who wrote “Against the Grain”

Good Governance - Inflation of an Idea Merilee Grindle (2010) a useful article in which the author updates her idea of “good enough Governance”