"This latest set of aggregate indicators, are based on hundreds of specific and disaggregated individual variables measuring various dimensions of governance, taken from 33 data sources provided by 30 different organizations. The data reflect the views on governance of public sector, private sector
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and NGO experts, as well as thousands of citizen and firm survey respondents worldwide. We also explicitly report the margins of error accompanying each country estimate. These reflect the inherent difficulties in measuring governance using any kind of data. We find that even after taking margins of error into account, the WGI permit meaningful cross-country comparisons as well as monitoring progress over time. In less than a decade, a substantial number of countries exhibit statistically significant improvements in at least one dimension of governance, while other countries exhibit deterioration in some dimensions." (Abstract)
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"Communication is a prerequisite for better, more transparent and accountable governance, and for wealth creation and economic growth. It underpins all the MDGs and is arguably as central a need of human beings as food, shelter, health and security. Governments and development actors need to recogni
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se the central role of information and communication in development - especially the importance of strengthening the capacities of poor and marginalised people to participate in political and development processes. Addressing the challenge of communication is urgent. New ICTs can expand opportunities for poor and marginalised people to participate - but strategic support is needed to ensure that ICTs fulfil their development potential rather than widening the wealth gap between rich and poor. The establishment and maintenance of diverse, dynamic and free media is also vital to successful development. The importance of getting the media 'right' is especially great in young democracies, as media play an important role in forming the nature of society." (Conclusion, page 59)
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"The aim of this paper is to examine the role (both positive and negative) that communication plays in promoting good governance by analysing available evidence and highlighting specific case studies, evaluation reports and academic articles detailing the impact of communication on governance. The p
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urpose is to move beyond anecdote and conjecture, to review the evidence and provide a reliable basis for policies and programmes on communication for good governance. This paper is structured as follows: Section Two provides an analysis of the relationship between governance and communication. Section Three reviews the kinds of evidence available and warns about the difficulties of establishing a causal link. Based on available evidence, Section Four provides an overview of the role of communication in government capability, accountability and responsiveness using a range of empirical data (where available) but relying heavily upon peer reviewed case studies. Section Five concludes with a summary of findings about the role of communication in good governance and identifies the factors which can encourage or impede a direct causal link." (Introduction, page 2)
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"Enhancing citizen voice and accountability has increased in importance for donors since the 1990s. This paper reviews existing literature and the strategy and policy documents of seven DAC donors in order to contribute to the design of an evaluation framework to assess the effectiveness of these do
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nors’ voice and accountability interventions." (Executive summary)
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"[...] this article evaluates various mechanisms of media accountability in Africa, and concludes that they are fraught with tensions among various political interests. It argues that state-controlled mechanisms of accountability are not always conducive to democracy, because they could be subject t
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o abuse. There is, therefore, the need for the media themselves to put in place procedures and demonstrate attitudes and levels of performance that ensure the highest standards of professionalism and levels of probity and accountability." (Abstract)
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"SDC regards this brochure as a document for discussion and orientation on the place of the media in international development cooperation. It is seeking to establish a framework in order to stimulate activities within this domain … The existence of a pluralist and autonomous press (written, audio
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visual and new media), carrying on its business within a global framework of respect for freedom, is the most important contribution that the media can make to governance. Every endeavour made in this direction deserves to be sustained by bilateral and multilateral aid. Nevertheless, considerable prudence is called for, as problems relating to media freedom, defamation or free access to public information are extremely difficult to regulate. It is for the local partners, and media professionals in particular, who have the difficult task of achieving consensus. The methodological approach to international aid is therefore very important." (Page 4, page 16)
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"The determinants of government responsiveness to its citizens is a key issue in political economy. Here we develop a model based on the solution of political agency problems. Having a more informed an politically active electorate strengthens incentives for governments to be responsive. This sugges
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ts that there is a role both for democratic institutions and the mass media in ensuring that the preferences of citizens are reflected in policy. The ideas behind the model are tested on panel data from India. We show that public food distribution and calamity relief expenditure are greater, controlling for shocks, where governments face greater electoral accountability and where newspaper circulation is highest." (Abstract)
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"In a cross-section of more than 150 countries, Kaufmann, Kraay, and Zoido-Lobatón provide new empirical evidence of a strong causal relationship from better governance to better development outcomes. They base their analysis on a new database containing more than 300 governance indicators compiled
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from a variety of sources. They provide a detailed description of each of these indicators and sources. Using an unobserved components methodology (described in the companion paper by Kaufmann, Kraay, and ZoidoLobatón, “Aggregating Governance Indicators,” Policy Research Working Paper 2195), they then contruct six aggregate indicators corresponding to six basic governance concepts: voice and accountability, political instability and violence, government effectiveness, regulatory burden, rule of law, and graft. As measured by these indicators, governance matters for development outcomes." (Summary findings)
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