Welcome

Dramatic improvements in global economic trends have taken place over the last decade: inflation rates have abated across the board, and public infrastructure has improved markedly. Global governance, on the other hand, offers a more mitigated picture. Its quality has increased significantly in a few countries, and decreased significantly in some others. Everywhere else, it has either stagnated or not followed any consistent trend.

Meanwhile, our understanding of governance has progressed. Thanks to empirical and analytical research undertaken over the last ten years, we now know much more about the quality of public governance worldwide. We also know more about its relation to growth, to economic and social development, and to human rights. The exact reasons why countries have fared so differently still elude us, however. We still don't know why the same governance reforms have worked in some countries, and failed in others. For each successful governance reform, there is a failure, and not always because not enough resources were invested, or because good will was lacking.  Lessons from a number of countries are emerging from the field, but the extent to which they can be replicated in other countries and contexts remains an open question.

This blog, hosted by the World Bank Institute, addresses these issues and others, but also seeks to create a debate about the new directions in which our quest for a better understanding of governance issues should take. In doing so, it relies on existing and upcoming research, analysis, news and experiences from across the world.