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Governance Matters
We live in a complex world where the incentives for conflict, either internal or external, can be found on any major topic; which could include religion, oil dispute, human rights abuses, among many others.
Some could argue that there’s an utmost factor for internal conflict to arise: governance. At least this is the conclusion that UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) reached when analysing the series of conflicts that have occurred in their member countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, United Arab Emirates and Yemen).
But, what’s governance anyway? There’s no easy answer for this, when researching this topic many definitions came up from the World Bank, OECD, UN, IMF, etc. Consequently I’ll drop all those definitions and temporarily use my own; Governance is the way that a given political regime serves the freedom and equality of its citizens.
So, now the question at hand is: Do we agree with ESCWA when they affirm that bad governance triggers internal conflict? My answer is YES.
I shall not go into much detail, nonetheless for me it seems fairly obvious that a country that is unable to deliver good governance segregates and diminishes its citizens. On the opposite, a country with good governance will embrace the engagement of citizens in their political life.
It can be argued that there are many other conditions that will also have an important role in preventing internal conflict. Nonetheless, my conclusion to this argument is that governance matters.
Now the question at hand is: How can the UN help its member states to improve their governance?
The good news is that the Post 2015 agenda has included governance as one of the eleven thematic consultations, thus giving everyone the opportunity to contribute to answer this question.
If you want more information on this topic, please visit http://www.worldwewant2015.org/governance
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Comment by Ulrich Graute on February 4, 2013 at 2:51pm -
And talking about governance ... did you see the final Communique of the Meeting of the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda which took place on 1February in Monrovia, Liberia?
There is says: "Achieving structural transformations through a global development agenda
will involve:
• Sustainable growth with equity: To foster long-‐term, sustainable growth and reduce volatility, the
global community must promote good governance, invest in stable and accountable institutions,
fight corruption, ensure the rule of law, and build resilience to shocks in all countries. (...)"http://www.post2015hlp.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Monrovia-Comm....
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Comment by Ulrich Graute on February 4, 2013 at 2:41pm
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Adrian, I think you refer to the new ESCWA publication "Governance Deficit and Conflict Relapse in the ESCWA Region". Indeed, I highly recommend the lecture of the publication. It is very interesting e.g. how the authors discuss the relation between governance and conflict.
You conclude that bad governance triggers conflict. Well, I would say that conflict is in itself already a form of bad governance. Of course, where other forms of bad governance are prevalent these may trigger conflict but again, conflict is just an outstanding form and nothing separate from bad governance. And, of course, one may conclude in return that a political situation where forms of good governance dominate are less likely to trigger conflict. And here we find also the answer to your second question: The UN helps already by promoting good governance, improved services delivery and engagement of citizen. The ESCWA study does this by demonstrating that good governance contributes to prevent conflict. A lot more can be done on the ground but this requires cooperation with Member States and their citizen. The UN can help, not more and not less.
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