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Good governance as characterised by the World Bank

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The United States Embassy in Harare regularly publishes a newspaper called News and Views from The World. The August/September 2006 issue’s theme is Democracy and Good Governance.

On the front page the editors include the following information from the World Bank:

According to the World Bank, good governance is characterised by the following features:

- accountability of government officials including politicians and civil servants
- transparency in governmental procedures
- predictability in governmental behaviour and expectation of rational decisions
- openness in governmental transactions
- the rule of law and an independent judiciary
- free flow of information and freedom of the press
- respect for human rights
- decentralisation of power, structure and decision making

I wonder if the U.S. Embassy included these guidelines in their newspaper as a reminder to America, Zimbabwe or both?

One comment to “Good governance as characterised by the World Bank”

  1. Comment by Zoot Sims:

    Your blog is a welcome addition to the blogosphere in general and to the Zimbabwe segment of it in particular. The reader of this particular post might wonder what you are getting at with your final question, however; are you suggesting a moral equivalence between the two governments or that there is some comparison to be made between weaknesses in the U.S.A.’s governance system and democracy as they are practiced and those of Zimbabwe?