Chapter 12: Christianity and Good Governance: An Empirical Investigation

The importance of good governance at global, country, state, local, and firm level is undeniable for better and accountable outcomes. Effective governance matters. The concept of good governance has been given different definitions. For example, United Nations Development Programme (1997) defines governance as

Accordingly, “governance transcends the state to include civil society organizations and the private sector, because all are involved in most activities promoting sustainable human development.” This definition identifies three key components of governance: the state and its institutions, the civil society organizations that were traditionally left out in the past governing systems and the private sector supposedly not involved in the governing process or dynamics before. The latter two complements can include religious institutions. Despite such definition, governance is a difficult concept and there is no consensus on the concept of good governance. As noted by Isham et al. (1997), “Governance, like religion, is a broad topic that inspires strong beliefs and is difficult to measure reliably” (p. 219).