Understanding Governance in South Asia

Adluri Subramanyam Raju

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9780367557904
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000194432
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political Economy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

The concept of good governance in South Asia poses a challenge at the implementation level, mainly due to ethnocentricity, regional disparities, division between poor and rich, and rural and urban division among the people. Concepts such as decentralization, citizen engagement, lean public service, privatization, autonomy, public-private partnership may work well in developed countries but may not produce the same results in the region where the majority of poor people expect their government to fulfill their basic needs. Governance in South Asia needs to be reformed to ensure that poverty can be reduced, if not completely eradicated. Poor governance and the various means by which governance has fallen short, has led to lack of development and continuance of poverty in South Asian societies. South Asian countries have more or less similar objectives, structures, value systems, cultures, and standards of governance despite different forms of government. The colonial legacy of British administrative system had its impact on centralization. Secrecy, elitism, rigidity, and social isolation is common to all South Asian countries. The post-colonial administrative system is built upon pre-colonial administrative traditions throughout the region. These countries can learn from each other's experiences. They need to develop an indigenous model to find pragmatic solutions to the challenges of good governance. This book argues that countries in South Asian can achieve good results through good governance if they develop and adopt an indigenous model rather than simply borrowing models and ideas from the West. Please note: This title is co-published with Manohar Publishers, New Delhi. Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

PART 1
GOVERNANCE IN SOUTH ASIA: BACKGROUND

CHAPTER 1
Governance in South Asia

A Conceptual Analysis

Adluri Subramanyam Raju

INTRODUCTION

The word ‘governance’ is derived from the Greek verb țȣȕİȞȐȦ [kubernáo] which means to steer and was used for the first time in a metaphorical sense by Plato.¹ From 1985 onwards, the discourse on good governance has been debated and it has emerged as a global agenda for development, as many countries realized the fact that without addressing the emerging issues related to human beings, the state would not be stable and face social unrest across the territory.

The importance of governance has been advocated by multilateral agencies like the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Development Advisory Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and other agencies.

Governance can be understood in many ways. We can look at the different definitions according to the different world organizations that provide assistance to bring about good governance reforms in different countries.

This chapter discusses how governance has become important across the world. It also provides a conceptual analysis on the issue of governance and highlights how the South Asian countries can learn from each other’s experiences and from other parts of the world in order to maximize the utilities of good governance.

To the World Bank, good governance is characterized by ‘predictable, open and enlightened policy making; a bureaucracy imbued with professional ethos; an executive arm of government accountable for all its actions and a strong civil society participating in public affairs; and all behaving under the rule of law’.² The DAC has defined good governance as ‘the rule of law, responsible leadership and effective systems for public management, transparency and accountability’.³

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’.⁴ Although the World Bank identified political, administrative and economic aspects of governance, it did not include the political aspects in its policies until recently. The World Bank has its own methodology of assessing the quality of governance, popularly known as Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI). The six indicators used in the latest governance assessment are: (1) voice and accountability, (2) political stability, (3) government effectiveness, (4) regulatory quality (5) rule of law, and (6) control of corruption. These six dimensions cover the political, economic and, institutional aspects of governance. These indicators are normative and have a high association with democracy and economic development.⁵

Further, the UNDP defines governance ‘as the exercise of political and administrative authority at all levels to manage a country’s affairs’.⁶ It comprises mechanisms, processes and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate their interest, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations, and mediate their differences. This definition clearly identifies three governance arenas: political, economic and administrative.

In its Human Development Reports, UNDP’s Human Development Centre (HDC) defines ‘good governance from the standpoint of human development and it reformulated the concept of governance as humane governance encompassing three governance arenas: political, economic and civic’.⁷ The second extension of UNDP’s view of governance has appeared in the form of a working definition for the World Governance Assessment Project (WGA). Under this project, ‘governance refers to the formation and stewardship of the formal and informal rules that regulate the public realm, the arena in which state as well as economic and societal actors interact to make decisions’.⁸

Despite different interpretations of governance and methodological challenges to assess the quality of governance, ‘there is a general consensus among researchers, policy makers and donors that governance does matter and indeed good governance is imperative for development and poverty reduction’.⁹ ‘Governance is a necessity for development and poverty reduction, not a luxury’.¹⁰ Others also allude to this clear link between good governance and the alleviation of poverty.

The World Bank defines governance as: ‘The exercise of political authority and the use of institutional resources to manage society’s problems and affairs’.¹¹ ‘The way … power is exercised through a country’s economic, political, and social institutions’.¹²

According to March and Oslen, ‘Governance presumes a perspective on politics and government, a way of thinking about how things happen in a polity’.¹³ Hyden interprets it as ‘those measures that involve setting the rules for the exercise of power and settling conflicts over such rules’¹⁴ Landell and Serageldein understand governance as ‘means how people are ruled, how the affairs of the state are administered and regulated; it refers to a nation’s system of politics and how this functions in relation to public administration and law’.¹⁵

According to Rhodes, ‘Good governance involves the self-organizing and inter-organizational networks characterized by interdependence, resource-exchange, rules of the game and significant autonomy from the state’.¹⁶ Bilney defines ‘good governance as … among other things participatory, transparent and accountable. It is also effective and equitable. And it promotes the rule of law.’ ‘Good governance means the effective management of a country’s social and economic resource in a manner that is open, transparent, accountable, equitable’.¹⁷

If a state is implementing effective governance, then various problems of socio-economic development would be addressed. There are developing countries who in spite of having abundant resources, manpower, institutions, etc., have not been able to achieve economic growth, human development and poverty reduction. Ineffective public services, leadership crisis, lack of transparency and accountability in administration, ineffective political institutions, etc., are considered to be the main hurdles to address the poverty in developing countries. There are several international organizations like the World Bank, UNDP, IMF and NGOs who are focusing on good governance as a precondition to address poverty. The UNDP has put stress on good governance for human development, the IMF on participatory governance and other organizations have focused on enhancing governance.¹⁸

The World Bank has recognized the following as parameters of good governance:

• Legitimacy of political system which can be best achieved through regular elections and political accountability.
• Freedom of association and paticipation by various socioeconomic, religious, cultural and professional groups in the governance.
• An established legal framework based on the rule of law and independence of judiciary to protect human rights and secure social justice.
• Bureaucratic accountability including transparency in administration.
• Freedom of information and expression.
• A sound administrative system leading to efficiency and effectiveness.
• Cooperation between the government and civil society organizations.¹⁹

Governance is usually assessed from a three-dimensional perspective: ‘a. process by which governments are selected, held accountable, monitored, and replaced; b. capacity of governments to manage resources efficiently and formulate, implement, and enforce sound policies and regulations; and, c. extent of participation of the citizens in affairs of the state.’²⁰

The areas of governance that affect poverty are: lack of service-delivery in the areas of health and education, rampant corruption, inaccessibility to justice, lack of regulatory support to the informal and unorganized sectors of the economy where a majority of the poor pursue their livelihoods; and lastly where poor are being threatened due to various forms of insecurity and improper application of power.²¹

GOVERNANCE IN SOUTH ASIA

In principle, the primary duty or obligation of a state or a ruler is not only protecting the territory but also to uphold the welfare of the people. Kautilya, long ago, advised King Chandragupta Maurya how a ruler should be. He said: for a ruler, ‘in the happiness of his subjects lies his happiness; in their welfare his welfare. He does not consider as good only that which pleases him but treats as beneficial whatever pleases his subjects.’²²

Governance in South Asia is something that needs to be reformed to ensure that poverty can be reduced if not completely removed. In his book Poverty in South Asia, Navin Mishra discusses the state of governance in South Asia and how that has led to the lack of development. He also discusses how governance is lacking and the various means by which governance has fallen short and has led to the lack of development and the sustenance of poverty in South Asian societies.

POVERTY IN SOUTH ASIA

Poverty is understood in different ways according to the goals and functioning of the organization that defines it. Being poor can be described as follows: ‘To be hungry, to lack shelter and clothing, to be sick and not cared for, to be illiterate and not schooled. […] Poor people are particularly vulnerable to adverse events outside their control. They are often treated badly by institutions of the state and society and excluded from voice and power in those institutions.’²³ Poverty as understood by the UN and World Bank is as follows:

United Nations: ‘Fundamentally, poverty is a denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. It means lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society. It means not having enough to feed and clothe a family, not having a school or clinic to go to; not having the land on which to grow one’s food or a job to earn one’s living, not having access to credit. It means insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of individuals, households and communities. It means susceptibility to violence, and it often implies living in marginal or fragile environments, without access to clean water or sanitation.²⁴

World Bank: ‘Poverty is pronounced deprivation in well-being, and comprises many dimensions. It includes low incomes and the inability to acquire the basic goods and services necessary for survival with dignity. Poverty also encompasses low levels of health and education, poor access to clean water and sanitation, inadequate physical security, lack of voice, and insufficient capacity and opportunity to better one’s life.²⁵

As seen, the UN definition outlines poverty from the standpoint of human insecurity. And that poverty describes a situation whe...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• List of Contributors
• Introduction
• PART 1: GOVERNANCE IN SOUTH ASIA: BACKGROUND
• PART 2: GOVERNANCE AND GLOBALIZATION
• PART 3: GOVERNANCE, POLITICS AND VIOLENCE IN SOUTH ASIA
• PART 4: GOVERNANCE IN SOUTH ASIA: CASE STUDIES
• Index