World Bank says good governance not limited to rich countries
July 10, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — Good governance is not the sole preserve of the richest industrialized countries but can be found around the world, a research institute at the World Bank said Tuesday.
Countries such as Chile, Botswana and Estonia all are vibrant democracies with little corruption, the institute said in a report entitled “Governance Matters 2007: World Governance Indicators 1996-2006.”
Sounding an upbeat note on Africa, the survey said a number of countries on the continent are making improvements, but there have been some declines, notably in Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea.
Such improvements are considered critical for aid effectiveness and for sustained long-run economic growth.
The indicators cover 212 countries and territories, drawing on 33 different data sources to capture the views of tens of thousands of survey respondents worldwide, as well as thousands of experts in the private, public and non-governmental organization sectors.
Development experts consider the indicators a quality data base that allow them to measure government performance in various areas such as control of corruption and effectiveness.
The World Bank Institute is not alone in these measurements. Transparency International, a non-governmental organization based in Berlin, publishes a similar report, but it does not cover as many countries.
The World Bank indicators “put to rest the tired assumption that these issues cannot be robustly measured and the lessons drawn cannot be put to subsequent positive use by governments, the development community, civil society and the media,” said John Githongo, a former presidential adviser in Kenya.
The report said more than a dozen countries with emerging economies, such as Slovenia, Chile, Costa Rica and Estonia, score higher on key dimensions of governance than some industrialized countries such as Greece and Italy.
For years development experts had doubted whether many African nations could make progress. But the report said that over the period from 1998 to 2006, Kenya, Niger and Sierra Leone showed marked improvement in one of the measured areas, voice and accountability. That area covers how citizens are able to participate in selecting their governments as well as freedom of expression, freedom of association and free media.
In contrast, governance in Ivory Coast has deteriorated sharply in all six categories the report measures, and in Eritrea and Ethiopia it has deteriorated in some but not all categories.
Besides voice and accountability, the categories measured are political corruption and absence of violence, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption.
“The hopeful news is that a considerable number of countries, including in Africa, are showing that it is possible to make significant governance progress in a relatively short period of time,” said Daniel Kauffman, co-author of the report and director of global programs at the World Bank Institute.
He said bribery around the world is estimated at $1 trillion (A730 trillion) and the burden of corruption falls disproportionately on the bottom billion people living in extreme poverty, which the bank defines as those existing on less than $1 (A.73) a day.
(AP)