Governance is the delivery of political goods — beginning with security — to citizens of nation-states.
Good governance results when nation-states provide a high order of certain political goods—when the nation-states perform effectively and well on behalf of their inhabitants.
Nation-states exist to provide a decentralized method of delivering political (public) goods to persons living within designated parameters and it is according to their performances — according to the levels of their effective delivery of the most crucial political goods — that strong states may be distinguished from weak ones
The social contract between ruler and ruled embodies effective delivery of these political goods — and what this hierarchy of crucial political goods entails is based on so- cietal norms and beliefs.
The hierarchy of political goods begins with the supply of security, especially human security. A well governed nation provides:
1. Rule of law;
2. Political and civil freedoms;
3. Medical and health care;
3. Schools and educational instruction;
4. Roads,
5. Railways, the arteries of commerce;
6. Communications networks;
7. A money and banking system;
8. A fiscal and institutional context within which citizens can prosper;
9. Support for civil society;
10. A method of regulating the sharing of the environmental commons.
Together, the management, supply and delivery of some or most of these goods constitutes governance, and the extent to which nation-states do or do not so perform can—at least in theory—be measured.
Now, Think about those political leaders you are willing to put your life on the line for. How familiar are they with these issues? Do they have the promise of good governance in them?
