Governing Agenda 2030: Institution-Building and Good GovernanceDr Tom PegramDeputy Director UCL-GGI

Stockholm, 17 August 2016

Governing Agenda 2030: Institution-Building and Good Governance

1. The problem2. SDGs and Goal 163. What is governance? And “good”

governance? 4. How do we get good governance?5. Global governance and delivery6. Concrete policy initiatives7. What works?

Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

Targets under Goal 16:• Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and

ensure equal access to justice for all• Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms• Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all

levels• Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative

decision-making at all levels• Broaden and strengthen the participation of developing countries in

the institutions of global governance• Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental

freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements

Targets under Goal 16:• Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and

ensure equal access to justice for all• Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms• Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at

all levels• Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative

decision-making at all levels• Broaden and strengthen the participation of developing countries in

the institutions of global governance• Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental

freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements

SDG Governance Challenges

• A retreat into silos• Absence of concrete solutions• Mitigation of negative interactions• Politics “above” and “below” national institutions• Instrument selection and effect• Participation of intended beneficiaries

What is good governance?

Governance: “The institutions, mechanisms or processes backed by political power and/or authority that allow an activity or set of activities to be controlled, influenced or directed in the collective interest” (Baker, Hudson & Woodward 2005)

Syria

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Papua New Guinea

ArgentinaS. Arabia

Nor

Croatia

JapanSwe

South Korea

Egypt

BahrainArmenia

Macedonia

ZimbabweSwaziland

Malaysia

AzerbaijanTurkmenistan

Mongolia

Israel

Georgia

Singapore

South Africa

Belarus

USA

Russia

Nigeria

Burundi

Equatorial Guinea

Kuwait

EthiopiaKenyaDjibouti

RwandaCameroon

Afghanistan

Senegal

Lesotho

Mozambique

Laos

BotswanaLiberia

Iraq Gambia

Honduras

Angola

Maldives

Tanzania

Cambodia

TuvaluBangladesh

Brunei

Sierra Leone

Mali

Tajikistan

Cuba

HaitiChad

Pakistan

IranLebanon

China

3040

5060

7080

Hea

lthy

Life

Yea

rs

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Level of Democracy

R²=0.01Sources: WHO (-), Freedom House/Polity (2002-2006)

Healthy Life Yearsvs. Level of Democracy

Low High

Data runs by: Richard Svensson

Low

High

Albania

ArgentinaBahrain

Bangladesh

BoliviaSolomon IslandsMyanmar

Burundi

CambodiaCameroon

Cape Verde

Dem. Rep. Congo

Eritrea

Estonia

Gabon

Gambia

Ghana

Iran

IsraelJapan

Kazakhstan

Lebanon

Lesotho

MalaysiaMaldives

Mali

Morocco

Mozambique

Vanuatu

Nigeria

Norway

QatarRussia

Rwanda

Sao Tome

Saudi Arabia

Seychelles

Sierra Leone

Singapore

Vietnam

Swaziland

Swe

Egypt

USA

Burkina Faso

.2.4

.6.8

1

Hum

an D

evel

opm

ent I

ndex

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Level of Democracy

R²=0.22Sources: UNDP (2002), Freedom House/Polity (2002-2006)

Human Development Indexvs. Level of Democracy

Low High

Data runs by: Richard Svensson

Low

High

Azerbaijan

ArgentinaBahamas

Belgium

BhutanBotswana

Solomon Islands

Chile

Dem. Rep. Congo

Eq. Guinea

Eritrea

FinlandFrance

Djibouti

Ghana

Grenada

Haiti

India

IsraelItaly

JapanSouth Korea

Lesotho

Mali

Mexico

Oman

Namibia

Niger

Nigeria

Norway

Russia

Sierra Leone

SingaporeSweden

USA

Burkina Faso

Venezuela

.2.4

.6.8

1

Hum

an D

evel

opm

ent I

ndex

-2 -1 0 1 2 3

Control of Corruption

R²=0.47Sources: UNDP (2002), World Bank (2002-2008)

Human Development Indexvs. Control of Corruption

High Corruption Low Corruption

Data runs by: Richard Svensson

Low

High

AfghanistanAngola

Antigua and Barbuda

Azerbaijan

Bahrain

Bangladesh

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Botswana

Brazil

Myanmar

Burundi

Cambodia

Cameroon

China

Comoros

Cuba

Benin

Ethiopia

Eritrea

Estonia

Djibouti

Gabon

Ger

KiribatiHaiti

India

Iran

IsraelJapan

Kenya

Kuwait

Lebanon

Madagascar

Malawi

Mali

Mongolia

MozambiqueNigeria

PakistanRussia

Rwanda

San Marino

Saudi A.

Senegal

Sierra Leone

Singapore

South Africa

Zimbabwe

Swaziland

Swe

TajikistanThailand

United Arab Emirates

Ukraine

USA

Uzbekistan

Zambia

4050

6070

80

Life

Exp

ecta

ncy

at B

irth

(Yea

rs)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Level of Democracy

R²=0.19Sources: World Bank (2000-2006), Freedom House/Polity (2002-2006)

Life Expectancy at Birthvs. Level of Democracy

Low High

Data runs by: Richard Svensson

Low

High

Afghanistan

AlbaniaArgentina

Australia

BahamasBarbados

Bhutan

Botswana

Solomon Islands

Cape Verde

China

CubaDenmark

Equatorial GuineaEthiopia

Eritrea

Estonia

Finland

Ghana

Greece

HaitiIndia

Iraq

ItalyJapan

Liberia

Liechtenstein

Malawi

MongoliaRussia

Sierra Leone

Singapore

South Africa

Zimbabwe

Swaziland

Sweden

Ukraine

USA

Burkina Faso

Venezuela

Zambia

4050

6070

80

Life

Exp

ecta

ncy

at B

irth

(Yea

rs)

-2 -1 0 1 2 3

Control of Corruption

R²=0.41Source: World Bank (2000-2008)

Life Expectancy at Birthvs. Control of Corruption

High Corruption Low Corruption

Data runs by: Richard Svensson

Low

High

How do we get good governance?

Efficient institutions “operate in a few advanced contemporary countries and only in recent times. We know surprisingly little, however, regarding the institutional development that led to these modern successes”. Avner Greif 2006

What is required is “inclusive institutions” which “allow and encourage participation by the great mass of people in economic activities that make best use of their talents and skill and enable them to make the choices they wish”. Acemoglu & Robinson (2012), “Why Nations Fail”

Good governance: “promoting good governance in all its aspects, including by ensuring the rule of law, improving the efficiency and accountability of the public sector, and tackling corruption, as essential elements of a framework within which economies can prosper” (IMF 1997)

Quality of government (and the impartiality imperative)

Political System

Input sidePolitical equality

(Robert Dahl)

Output sideImpartiality

(Bo Rothstein)

Draws distinction between access to and the exercise of political power (Rothstein & Teorell 2008)

Quality of government (and the impartiality imperative)

• When implementing laws and policies, government officials shall not take anything about the citizen/case into consideration that is not beforehand stipulated in the policy or the law

• It is about the exercise of power, not the access to power

• Rules out corruption, but also other forms of favouritism such as clientelism, nepotism, patronage and discrimination.

New governance theory

Kenneth Abbott et al., International Organizations as Orchestrators (2015)

Good governance is political

Governance is about much more than technical management, it is also fundamentally about power, interests, values, authority, and legitimacy.

Rothstein & Tannenberg (2015), “Making Development Policy Work: The Quality of Government Approach”

Good governance and corruption

Corruption: “abuse of trust, power or position for improper gain. Corruption includes among other things the offering and receiving of bribes – including the bribery of foreign officials – extortion, conflicts of interest and nepotism” (Sida, 2015).

Programs aimed at facilitating institutional change on the INPUT SIDE: elections; support to parliament & political parties; media; anti-corruption organizations and institutions

Facilitating institutional change on the OUTPUT SIDE: public administration, public financial management, and public sector policy and management, government administration; statistical capacity; public financial management; public sector policy & management; and decentralization and support to subnational governments

Indirect approaches to institutional change

• Auditing: improving the quality of audit and anti-corruption systems

• Taxation: enhancing the ability of developing nations to efficiently tax the population

• Poverty reduction: financing partner government’s poverty strategies and sectorial budget support

• Gender equality: Programs for training and support for women’s leadership

• Meritocratic recruitment: of civil servants, as opposed to political appointment

• Provision of universal education.

• Auditing: professionalism of personnel achieves high standard and effective auditing (Gustavson 2015)

• Taxation: taxpayers are more interested in politics and the affairs of the state (Broms 2015)

• Poverty: inhibits political participation (Young 2000)• Gender equality: high no of female politicians at sub-

national level lowers corruption (Wängnerud 2010)• Meritocratic recruitment: of civil servants reduces

corruption (Dahlström et al. 2012)• Education: educated citizens may exhibit greater

loyalty towards public institution (Weber 1976).

What works?

SDG governance architecture is not simply a realm of harmonising interests in pursuit of coordination, it also requires a serious engagement with politics and power.

Key factors: • Political action by public authorities at all levels on

corruption• State capacity-building to cement broad-based and

plural domestic coalitions of support• Deployment of a range of principled instruments,

including hard and soft governance tools, to enhance local public administration.

References

Baker, A., D. Hudson, & R. Woodward (eds.) (2005), Governing Financial ffffGlobalisation. London: Routledge.Greif, A. (2006), Institutions and the Path to the Modern Economy. ffffCambridge University Press.IMF (1997), “Good Governance: The IMF's Role” (Washington: IMF.Acemoglu, D., and J. Robinson (2012), Why Nations Fail. Crown ffffPublishing.Rothstein, Bo, & Jan Teorell, “What is Quality of Government?” Governance ffff21(2), April 2008.Abbott et al. (2015) International Organizations as Orchestrators. ffffCambridge University Press.Rothstein, Bo, “Making Development Policy Work: The Quality of ffffGovernment Approach”, QOG Institute, October 2015.