Governance in an Ethnically Divided Society: The Guyana Case

• Author: Aubrey Norton
• Pages: 167-176

Aubrey Norton 167167

167167

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Governance in an Ethnically Divided Society:

The Guyana Case

This paper gives conceptual clarity to the

notions of governance and good governance.

It then discusses the major problems facing

Guyana as an ethnically divided society. It

considers good governance as important to

the democratic process. However, it is argued

that the nature of the problems confronting

Guyana demands a change in the political

system to one based on power sharing if

Guyana is to surmount its problems. It also

discusses the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic

(PPP/C) and the People’s National Congress

Reform (PNCR) positions on the power sharing

issue before arriving at conclusions as to the

way forward.

Governance

The concept of governance has been very

much in focus recently because of ‘its capacity

— unlike that of the narrower term

“government” — to cover the whole range of

institutions and relationships involved in the

process of governing’ (Pierre and Peters

2000, 1).

Governance in this approach sees

government as only one actor in the

governance process; ‘Governance’ is

however

a broader term than ‘government.’

It refers in its widest sense to the various ways

through which social life is coordinated.

Government can therefore be seen as one of

the organizations involved in governance: it

is possible in other words to have ‘governance

without government’ (Heywood 2000, 19).

10 A U B R E Y N O R T O N

University of Guyana

Governance deals with all the actors

involved in the governing and steering of

society, it ‘means thinking about how to steer

the economy and society, and how to reach

collective goals’ (Pierre and Peters, 2000,1).

The emphasis is on how the society is

governed, the style and approach that are

utilized in governing.

The UNDP contends that:

Governance can be seen as the

exercise of economic, political and

administrative authority to manage a

country’s affairs at all levels. It

comprises the mechanisms, processes

and institutions through which citizens

and groups articulate their interests,

exercise their rights, meet their

obligations and mediate their

differences. (http://www.undp.org

magnet/policy chap 1)

Governance therefore focuses on the

manner in which power is exercised in the

management of the affairs of a country. It

denotes how people are ruled, how the affairs

of state are administered and regulated, a

nation’s system of politics and how this functions

in relation to public administration and law.

Governance is seen as having a political

dimension (Landell-Mills and Serageldin

1991, 304).

If one accepts that governance deals with

how society is governed, then to the extent

that the problems to be addressed are

systemic, improving or changing the way we

govern will not be able to resolve problems