Implementation of the Principles of Good Governance on the National Level

Abstract

Abstract In ‘Good governance in the EU member states’ we investigated the interpretations and implementation of good governance and its principles in the EU member states, taking into account the different functions of government bodies. Good governance implementation is of growing importance on a national level in the fulfilment of public tasks by the public authorities, but also in relation to private institutions, when fulfilling tasks that are in the public interest. The common interest is related to a society’s underlying public values and it is directly linked to the concept of good governance. Good governance has a dual nature: the factual and the ideal. The factual dimension is represented by the realisation of good governance as an administrative fact and the ideal dimension in the element of conceptual (moral) correctness. Once conceptual correctness is acknowledged as a necessary element, the picture fundamentally changes: a non-positivist concept of good governance evolves. Good governance promotes cultural, economic, and social dynamics coherently within a society and in concrete situations. Good governance is the backbone of any modern European state. Also, some studies about good governance in states outside the European Union. Of course, there are important differences between and within continents; nevertheless, we can take a similar approach to other states in Africa, America and Australia. One of the new elements is also the attention to the issue of integrity in relation to the concept of good governance. We will present more clearly the concept of good governance in its concrete sense inside and outside Europe. We found good governance norms specified in legislation, policy documents, and decisions of courts and other controlling institutions like the ombudsmen and the courts of audit. A special point of attention is the link—in both theory and practice—between good governance and integrity.