Governance

Governance

Definition

Governance is the process of governing. The European Commission’s concept of governance, as set out in the 2001 White Paper on European Governance, refers to the "rules, processes and behaviour that affect the way in which powers are exercised at European level, particularly as regards openness, participation, accountability, effectiveness and coherence" <ref>http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2001/com2001_0428en01.pdf, page 8</ref>. These five "principles of good governance" reinforce those of subsidiarity and proportionality. The main characteristics of good governance are that it assures that the views of minorities are taken into account and that the voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making.

Key principles of governance

• Participation: This will require participation by both men and women either directly or through legitimate intermediate institutions or representatives. This latter aspect means an organised civil society.
• Openness and accountability: Governmental institutions as well as private sector and civil society organisations must be accountable to the public and to their institutional stakeholders and in general to those affected by their decisions or actions.
• Effectiveness and coherence: Process and institutions produce results that meet the needs of society while making the best use of the resources at their disposal. It also means sustainable use of natural resources and the protection of the environment

Further information: http://ec.europa.eu/governance/index_en.htm

Note

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References

http://www.forumpartnerships.net/documents/view?id=217 - other_docs

UNDP, Inter-municipal Cooperation in Planning and Service Delivery: Analysis and Recommendations, 2006: http://www.forumpartnerships.net/attach/TND_06_R_UNDP_Inter-municipalCooperation.pdf 827 kb

Alf Vanags, The governance of employment and economic development in Baltic states, 2005: http://www.forumpartnerships.net/attach/TND_05_CD_Vanags_Governanceofemployment.pdf 338kb

Paul Stubbs, Stretching Concepts Too Far? Multi-Level Governance, Policy Transfer and the Politics of Scale in South East Europe, 2005: http://www.seep.ceu.hu/archives/issue62/stubbs.pdf

Miguel A. Mandez, Corporate Governance: a US/EU Comparison, 2004: http://bschool.washington.edu/ciber/PDF_WORD/Mendez-Corp_Gov_outline.doc

Lars Niklasson, Learning Networks for Regional Development: Evaluation as a tool for regional governance, 2004: http://www.statskontoret.se/upload/Publikationer/2004/2004134.pdf

Louis Tinker, Local Government Support Programme – Central Europe (LGSP-CE), 2004: http://www.polish-cities.pl/incl/prezentacje-poznan/cui-presentation.ppt

Harald Baldersheim, Twenty Years of Local Government Reforms – European Models and Experiences, 2004: http://www.dep.no/filarkiv/222001/Foredrag_Baldersheim_coe_conf.pdf

OECD, Country Factsheets, 28th Session of the Public Management Committee, 2003: http://www.forumpartnerships.net/attach/1TND_03_R_OECD_Governance_Factsheets.pdf 418kb

Romain Pasquier, Cognitive Europeanisation and the territorial effects of multi-level policy transfer. The Case of Local Development in French and Spanish Regions, 2003: http://www.huss.ex.ac.uk/politics/postgrad/GRiP/papers/Romain%20GRiP.pdf

OECD, Public Management Committee, Public Sector Modernisation: A New Agenda, 2002: http://www.forumpartnerships.net/attach/1TND_02_DP_OECD_PublicSector.pdf 78kb

ILO, International Labour Organization, The Open Method of Co-ordination: A supranational form of governance?, 2002: http://www.forumpartnerships.net/attach/1TND_02_DP_ILO_OpenMethodofCoordination.pdf 471kb

Jefferey M. Sellers, Between National State and Local Society: Infrastructures of Local Governance in Developed Democracies, 2002: http://www.usc.edu/dept/polsci/sellers/Publications/Assets/Between%20National%20State%20and%20Local%20Society.pdf

Burkard Eberlein, Dieter Kerwer, Theorising the New Modes of European Union Governance, 2002: http://eiop.or.at/eiop/texte/2002-005.htm

European Commission, Governance in the European Union, 2001: http://www.forumpartnerships.net/attach/TND_01_S_EC_GovernanceintheEU.pdf 1.1mb

Liesbet Hooghe, Gary Marks, Types of multi-level governance, 2001: http://eiop.or.at/eiop/pdf/2001-011.pdf

Brian Harvey, A picture of local government and local development in 10 years time - a European Perspective, 2001: http://www.planet.ie/brian_harvey_7dec01.ppt

Edvins Vanags, Inga Vilka, Local Government Reform in the Baltic Countries, 2001: http://www.uni-stuttgart.de/soz/avps/rlg/papers/Baltic%20Countries-Vanags.pdf

Michael Keating, Rural Governance: The International Experience, 2001: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/cru/resfinds/raf9.pdf

Caroline de la Porte, Philippe Pochet, Graham Room, Social Benchmarking, Policy-Making and new Governance in the EU, 2001: http://www.monnet-centre.uni-bremen.de/pdf/wp/2001-7-Porte-Pochet-Room.pdf

Magnus Ekengren, K. Jacobsson, Explaining the Constitutionalization of EU Governance, the Case of European Employment Cooperation, 2000: http://www.score.su.se/pdfs/2000-8.pdf

Links

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development: http://www.oecd.org/

LEED Programme (Local Economic and Employment Development): http://www.oecd.org/cfe/LEED/

OECD LEED Trento Centre for Local Development, Italy: http://www.trento.oecd.org/

Council of the European Municipalities and Regions: http://www.ccre.org/