Good Enough Governance Revisited Summary of Merilee Grindles

Good Enough Governance Revisited Summary of Merilee Grindle’s contribution to the Governance TSP review. Africa Governance Retreat May 2005

The Good Governance Agenda: Too Long, Too General Items related to good governance in World Development Reports 1997 45 1998 78 1999/2000 66 2000/2001 106 2001/2002 100 2002/2003 116 2

Good Enough Governance The concept of good enough governance provides a platform for questioning the long menu of institutional changes and public capacity building initiatives that are currently deemed important (or essential) for development. 3

The Good Governance Agenda Does not discriminate among: • What’s essential and what’s not • What should come first and what should follow • What is feasible and what is not • What can be achieved in the shortterm vs. longer-term 4

Good Enough Governance n Governance interventions need to be focused on the minimal conditions necessary for development to go forward n Interventions need to be made relevant to the conditions of individual countries 5

Research on Good Governance Little consensus on: • Definition • Measurement • Indicators • Inferences about causality: do institutions drive growth or vice versa? 6

The Dilemma for Practitioners Getting on with good enough governance in a context of ambiguity about what can be done where 7

Moving toward Priorities for Action Tools to analyze: n n The context of the country The content of the reform intervention To identify a limited range of important interventions that don’t overwhelm the capacity of the country 8

The Country Context Strengths and weaknesses of the state. States differ significantly in their capacities and in the interest of their political leaders in governance reforms. 9

Regimes and Capacities (adapted from M. Moore 2001) Types of political systems Characteristics Institutional stability of the state Organizational capacity of the state Degree of state legitimacy Types of policies in place Collapsed states No effective central government Extremely low Low to nonexistent No policies Personal rule Personalities and personal connections Dependent on personal control of power Low Unstable Minimally institutionalize d states Personalities and some impersonal institutions Basic rules of the game established, but function poorly Low/modest Basic public services and policies Institutionalize d noncompetitive states Stable and legitimate institutions, no open competition Clear rules of the game, centralization, authoritarianism Modest Wide range of basic services and policies, little input by citizens Institutionalize d competitive states Stable and legitimate institutions, competition Clear rules of the game, not subject to significant change High Wide range of basic services and policies, citizen engagement 10

Governance characteristics Personal safety ensured Basic conflict resolution systems Basic rules of the game agreed to Basic administrative tasks possible Basic services to most Collapsed states Personal rule Minimally institutionalized states P P P P P Institutionalized competitive states P P Open decision making and implementation P P Government responsive to inputs from citizens P P Equality/fairness in justice and services Government fully accountable P Institutionalized noncompetitive states P 11

A Hierarchy of Governance Priorities? Governance characteristics Personal safety ensured Basic conflict resolution systems Basic rules of the game agreed to Basic administrative tasks possible Basic services to most Collapsed states Personal rule Minimally institutionalized states P P P P P Institutionalized competitive states P P Open decision making and implementation P P Government responsive to inputs from citizens P P Equality/fairness in justice and services Government fully accountable P Institutionalized noncompetitive states P 12

Strategic Analysis of Opportunities for Change Example Opportunities for Change Constraints on Change Social, political, economic, institutions issues supportive of change? Incentives of actors to support change? Role, power, influence of domestic actors? Role, power, influence of external actors? Payoffs to poverty reduction? How is intervention operationalized? 13

The Content of Governance Reform Interventions Some reforms create more conflict, and are more complex and therefore harder to implement than others. Need to analyze the sources of support and opposition embedded in the political economy. 14

Ease/Difficulty of Governance Interventions Intervention Degree of conflict likely Time required for institutionalization Organizational complexity XXX Hi Medium Low Logistical complexity Budgetary requirements Amount of behavioral change required 15

Is There Room to Maneuver? To make reform more feasible: • Can you adjust the context? • Can you adjust the content? • Can you adjust the context and the content? 16

Back to Priorities n n Does the intervention have a significant impact on poverty reduction? Does the intervention advance DFID’s core capabilities objectives? Is the intervention reasonable, given the context of the country and the content of the intervention? What are the risks associated with the intervention and/or risks that might cause the intervention to be abandoned? 17

A Hierarchy of Governance Priorities Governance characteristics Collapsed states Personal rule Minimally institutionalized states Institutionalized noncompetitive states Institutionalized competitive states Personal safety ensured Basic conflict resolution systems Basic rules of the game agreed to Basic administrative tasks possible Basic services to most Equality/fairness in justice and services Open decision making and implementation Government responsive to inputs from citizens Government fully accountable 18

Prioritisation Matrix 19