Defining, explaining and, then, exploiting the elusive concept of 'governance'

Abstract

The concept of "governance" has become omnipresent in the lexicon of politics and political science. It has very quickly acquired many different meanings, but its most important property seems to be its capacity to serve as a substitute for "government". The former is (allegedly) good, and the latter is (allegedly) bad. In this essay, I explore the definition, the presumptions and the utility of governance. I conclude that it can make an important contribution of our understanding of the increasingly complex process of making and implementing public policies, but not as a substitute for government.