The Dilemmas of Good Governance

A Latin American Perspective

Bibliographic Data

ID6267331
AuthorsGeorge Philip (0000-0002-2226-0490, corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume34
Issue2
Pages226-242
Publication date1999-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGovernment and Opposition (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0017-257X • E-ISSN: 1477-7053
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/j.1477-7053.1999.tb00479.x
OpenAlexW1994792040
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited10

DURING THE 1990S, THE INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS (IFIS) have gone beyond supporting free-market economics via the socalled Washington consensus which advocated primarily marketoriented reform, to adopt a broader notion of ‘good governance’ which includes political as well as economic factors. The World Bank'sDevelopment Report 1997; The State in a Changing Worldis a key document in explaining this new thinking. It lays out the desirability of democracy, the rule of law and effective democratic regulation alongside the market-oriented economic policies and fiscal orthodoxy which IFIs have long advocated. There is no doubt that governance matters to development and to that extent theReportis welcome. TheReportalso makes a number of worthwhile points about administrative good practice and reform. However some scepticism is in order too. This is because the Bank's notion of ‘good governance’ is too idealistic, insufficiently historically specific and over-confident in respect of what we do know and can know about the politics of development

Corporate governance · Democracy · Economics · Good governance · Law and economics · Order (exchange · Orthodoxy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Skepticism · State (computer science · Washington Consensus · Economic Theory and Policy · Finance · Law · Public Administration

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