Government, Governance and Good Governance
| Published date | 01 March 2018 |
| Date | 01 March 2018 |
| Author | Ninad Shankar Nag |
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556117735448 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Indian Journal of Public
Administration
64(1) 122–130
© 2018 IIPA
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0019556117735448
http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ipa
1 Dayal Singh Evening College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India.
Corresponding author:
Ninad Shankar Nag, Dayal Singh Evening College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India.
E-mail: ninad.nag@gmail.com
Government,
Governance and
Good Governance
Ninad Shankar Nag1
Abstract
It is proposed that government, being the tangible expression of the legitimate
authority within an organised society, has undegone a long transformational
journey since its very emergence. The various evolutionary forms and features
of the government have been the product of its meaningful and viable responses
to the changing expectations of the people as well as to the challenges they faced
in an ever-changing environment. The exclusive domain of the state over the
period became a shared space with inclusion of other actors and stakeholders,
and an era of governance was ushered in since the 1980s. The much celebrated
success of the liberal democracy and its market-led open economy heralded as
an era of good governance. However, the universal model of good governance
fails to take into account the local constraints of a society. Thus, the idea of good
governance has to face various types of challenges in the developing as well as
underdeveloped societies.
Keywords
Government, liberal democracy, Third World, international aid agency, rule of law
Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our
happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our
vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The rst is a patron, the last
a punisher.
—Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776)
Government
Every organised human community residing within a defined territory needs a
reliable, vibrant and resilient institutional structure that could be able to deliver
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