Global by Lyla Bashan

Global by Lyla Bashan

Author:Lyla Bashan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Red Press Ltd
Published: 2018-06-14T16:00:00+00:00


GOOD GOVERNANCE

A WELL-RUN GOVERNMENT PROVIDES for the needs of its people. All of its people. And the idea of good governance is really just that: a government that does a good job at doing its job.

Part of a government’s job is to provide regulations, policies and laws for its citizens to follow in order to create an orderly, safe society (hello rule of law!). Governments are also supposed to provide services (schools, police stations, fire stations, hospitals, waste disposal) and infrastructure (roads, bridges, sewage removal, electricity).

For a government to be able to do a good job doing its job, the government needs adequate resources, both financial and human. A government needs educated, well-trained individuals to work for it and help run it. It also needs enough money to build and maintain infrastructure. And to have all of this, there has to be minimal corruption, lest state resources start finding their way into offshore bank accounts.

No country is immune to corruption, but some are less immune than others. In some places, the ‘president’ has complete control over the economy and exploits it for their own benefit. Worse still: no matter where it starts, corruption tends to trickle down until you get to the point where everyone functions using some sort of corruption as a practical and cultural reality.

Transparency is key to tackling corruption because the more transparent a government is, the harder it is for it to be corrupt. Transparency refers to how open government decision-making processes are (for example whether members of the public can attend Congressional committee meetings or official notes from meetings are made public). Transparency also means that the government’s budget is recorded and available for public scrutiny. And it means that the government is held accountable by ‘watchdog’ institutions within the government—like the US Government Accountability Office, and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. US Government departments and agencies also have their own internal accountability mechanisms, which are called the Inspector General’s Office. Many civil society organizations and think tanks also play the role of external government watchdog, which complements the government’s own watchdog bodies.

Lowering corruption isn’t just good for government—it’s good for business too! Less corruption means the government has more resources to invest in things that help economies flourish (like roads to connect rural areas to markets, or building the schools needed to have a highly-skilled workforce). It creates an appealing investment environment for the private sector: companies are more likely to invest in a country with a strong rule of law, fair taxation and stable regulation. On the other hand, a weak private sector results in fewer jobs and economic opportunities—which means that citizens will go abroad to find work, turn to the informal market (in turn creating less taxable income), use black market economic opportunities, turn to crime, or become dependent on charity. See how it all fits together?

That having been said, corruption is a really, really tough nut to crack. Even though everyone wins in a society free of



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