Overview

'Governance' has become a key word in the lexicon of international relations over the last twenty years. It is used, loosely, and invariably in a liberal idiom, by scholars, activists, civil society organizations, politicians and the voluntary sector. In many respects it has attained the status of a fetish, yet 'governance' remains a notion that has multiple definitions, a concept in-the-making. Notwithstanding the imprecision with which the term is employed, it has become an inescapable paradigm for the politics of development. The contributors to this book, drawn from among some of the world's best area studies specialists, from North and South, offer a diverse global critique of 'governance' as deployed in several key areas: institutions and state actors; the rule of law, democracy and human rights; decentralization and state power; development and, last but not least, international cooperation and the role of the World Bank, the IMF and NGOs. The geographical spread of the volume ranges from Africa to Latin America, from Asia to the Middle East. Their objectives include: a reassessment of 'governance' in its many manifestations; an attempt to free the term from its often unhelpful linkage to the state, and thereby apply it to other organizations and actors; a re-evaluation of the Western-dominated use of the term politically and an attempt to broaden its application beyond issues such as transparency and the fight against corruption; and a search for innovative applications of the term, driven by a consensus that transcends current economic and political inequalities.

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9781849040198

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Herv Magro works at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is Deputy Director of the Democratic Governance Section in the Department for Development Policies. Sverine Bellina is a Doctor of Public Administration, specialised on governance, institutionalisation of power and normative pluralism in Africa. She is currently General secretary of the Institute for Research and Debate on Governance. From December 2004 to March 2008 she acted as a consultant on issues of democratic governance with the Directorate of Development Policy of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs - France - and has actively contributed to the drafting of the French strategy for governance development cooperation. She has also been an expert partner in the Democratic Governance Group Bureau for Development Policy Program United Nations Development (UNDP-BDP), stationed in Dakar and Regional Center in Oslo on governance with the Director. Sverine Bellina has served as consultant to the European Commission. She is a teacher at SciencePo Paris. Violaine de Villemeur is the Deputy Director for Democratic Governance, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, France.

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