Governance and governability: Time, space, and structure

Abstract

Previous chapters have argued that the adaptive capacity of political institutions is an important aspect of governance, particularly the extent to which the state can provide direction, meaning, and coherence in governing. As was suggested in Chapter 1, the process of governing represents a continuing set of adaptations of political and administrative activities to changes in the environment. The principal adaptation has been an increasing involvement of societal actors in governance and with that change some blurring of any clear distinction between the public and private sectors. This statement does not mean that government has abdicated its responsibilities to steer the society, but only that there is now a wider range of instruments available for achieving public purposes (see Salamon, 2001).