Governance
Governance is the framework of rules and processes for organized groups.
Governance is the full system—made up of processes, structures, rules, laws, and norms—that emerges from the relationships, interactions, power dynamics, and communication within an organized group. It defines what counts as acceptable behavior for the group’s members and controls who gets to make decisions by creating and enforcing rules. It also manages, allocates, and mobilizes the group’s resources and capacities, and sets the overall direction so the group can address its collective needs, problems, and challenges.
This concept applies to any social, political, or economic entity where people engage in purposeful activity. Examples include a state and its government, a governed territory, a society, a community, a tribe or family, a formal or informal organization, a corporation, a non-governmental or non-profit organization, a project team, a market, a network, or even the global stage. Governance can also refer to specific sectors like land, environment, health, internet, or security. How formal governance is depends on the internal rules of the entity and its interactions with similar entities. As a result, governance takes many forms, driven by different motivations and leading to different outcomes.
Smaller groups often rely on informal leadership. Larger groups usually need a well-functioning governing body—a specific group of people given the authority and responsibility to make decisions about rules, enforce them, and oversee smooth operation within the broader governance framework. The most formal type of governing body is a government, which has the authority to make binding decisions for a specific geopolitical system, like a country, through established rules. A government may operate as a democracy, where citizens vote on who should govern, aiming for the public good. Other entities also have governing bodies. These can be legal entities or organizations, such as corporations or non-profits run by small boards of directors with specific aims. They can also be socio-political groups like hierarchical political structures, tribes, religious subgroups, or families. For a state, governance reflects a growing awareness that diffuse forms of power and authority can maintain order even without direct state activity. Many external actors without decision-making power can influence state governance, including lobbies, think-tanks, political partie
- field
- Political science, economics, public administration
- known_for
- Framework for governing organized groups, including states, corporations, and non-profits
- origin_of_word
- Greek verb kubernaein (to steer), first metaphorical use in Plato
- modern_usage
- Re-minted in the 1990s by economists and political scientists, disseminated by UN, IMF, World Bank
Lore & Background
The word governance derives from the Greek verb kubernaein, meaning to steer, with its metaphorical sense first attested in Plato. Its occasional use in English to refer to ruling a country appears in early-modern England, in works by William Tyndale and in royal correspondence from James V of Scotland to Henry VIII. The first usage in connection with institutional structures appears in Charles Plummer's 1885 translation of a 15th-century Latin manuscript by John Fortescue, titled The Governance of England.
Reader's Guide
Governance as a concept gained general currency in the 1990s, when it was re-minted by economists and political scientists and disseminated by institutions such as the UN, the IMF and the World Bank. The World Bank defines governance as 'the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country's economic and social resources for development.' The Worldwide Governance Indicators project defines it as 'the traditions and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised.' Governance covers the whole range of institutions and involved relationships, and many social scientists prefer the term when discussing the process of governing. It is studied at institutions such as the Balsillie School of International Affairs, Munk School of Global Affairs, Sciences Po Paris, Graduate Institute Geneva, Hertie School, and the London School of Economics.
Did You Know?
- The word governance derives from the Greek verb kubernaein, meaning to steer, first used metaphorically by Plato.
- The first usage of governance in connection with institutional structures appears in Charles Plummer's 1885 translation of a 15th-century Latin manuscript by John Fortescue.
- The term governance in its current broader sense was re-minted in the 1990s by economists and political scientists and disseminated by the UN, IMF, and World Bank.
- Governance can apply to entities such as a state, a corporation, a non-profit organization, a project team, a market, or even the global stage.
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