Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 17th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview Main Conference Theme Author(s) Cristi Iftene Ovidius University Constanta Romania Marius Văcărelu, Researcher Title Elements of good governance at local level: Romanian Administrative System File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Abstract The present paper tries to analyze aspects of “good governance” in local communities proposing instruments of implementation and measure of such a concept. From a theoretical point of view but also practical it is very important to develop instruments of measuring good governance in order to can compare different administrations. This paper’s main concern is in defining the concept of good governance and its understanding in the context of and in relationship with democracy. The starting point of this research has been the hypothesis that our new commitment to “governance” norms is interlocked with the emergence of a new model (or new models) of legitimate political action and state regulation. Between June-December 2008 we have conducted a research called Good governance and its impact on public administration procedure which has as main target to demonstrate that the main perception on good governance of the civil servant in one hand and citizens on the other is different. As research instruments we used two sets of surveys and we compared the results. The last points of the surveys addressed to suggestion from participants on how can be improved public administration activity and the results that we obtained are amazing. Democratic governance differs from the concept of “good governance” in recognizing that political and civil freedoms and participation have basic value as developmental ends in themselves and not just means for achieving socio-economic progress. Democratic governance is built on the concept of human development in its full sense of the term, which is about expanding capabilities people have, to be free and able to lead lives that they would choose to. The capability to be free from threats of violence and to be able to speak freely is as important as being literate for a full life. While the range of capabilities that people have is huge and almost infinite, several key capabilities are fundamental in human life and are universally valued, not only those in the “socioeconomic sphere” such as health and survival, education and access to knowledge, minimum material means for a decent standard of living, but those in the “political sphere” such as security from violence, and political freedom and participation. Indeed, these are core elements of human well being reflected in the Millennium Declaration. Democratic governance needs to be underpinned by a political regime that guarantees civil and political liberties as human rights, and that ensures participation of people and accountability of decision makers. Shalendra D. Sharma demonstrates that good governance has several characteristics. It is participatory, consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective, efficient, equitable, and inclusive and follows the rule of law. At a minimum, good governance requires fair legal frameworks that are enforced impartially by an independent judiciary and its decisions and enforcement are transparent or carried out in a manner that follows established rules and regulations. Since accountability cannot be enforced without transparency and the rule of law, accountability is a key requirement of good governance. We will demonstrate that these characteristics are implemented also at Romanian local level and we will discover more.
