Economic governance: Ambitions and ambiguities

In: Studia diplomatica: Brussels journal of international relations, Band 64, Heft 4

Abstract

The concept of governance belongs to a period when attempts were being made to describe a new approach to the complex reality of the contemporary world. It first made its appearance twenty years ago in the euphoria of a world freed from post-war tensions and driven by the technological revolution and the primacy of liberalism. Governance was intended to benefit from these apparent improvements and so to enhance classical democracy with a new dimension designed to defuse long-standing conflicts and ensure a better world. Indeed, good governance can be seen as a mutation of power (Moreau Defarges, 2001) at a wide range of levels -- private and public, national and international -- and in all areas of political activity ranging from straightforward behavioural guidelines at the most basic level up to a global vision of society as a whole. Adapted from the source document.