Civil society, NGOs, governments and various institutions all repeatedly call for improved or "good" governance, yet they seem to speak past one another.
Governance is in danger of losing all meaning, precisely because it means different things to many people in various locations.
This is especially true in sub-Saharan Africa, where the postcolony takes many forms, often still reflecting the imperial project with painful accuracy.
Offering a set of multidisciplinary analyses of governance in various sectors and locations, and from different theoretical approaches, this volume makes a useful addition to the growing debate on how to govern.
It steers away from prescribing a "correct" definition of governance or from promoting a particular position on post-coloniality. It offers no conclusion that neatly sums up all the arguments advanced. Instead, readers are invited to draw their own conclusions based on these differing analyses of governance in the postcolony.
As a robust, critical assessment of power and accountability in the sub-Saharan context, this collection brings together topical case studies that will be a valuable resource for those working in the field of African international relations, public policy, public management and administration.
David Everatt is head of the Wits School of Governance. He has worked across southern Africa in governance, development, youth, non-racialism, urban and rural studies, has designed and implemented monitoring systems and managed large-scale evaluations. He has published widely, including The Origins of Non-racialism (Wits University Press, 2010).
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