Conclusion: Governance and Political Power

Abstract

Governance is, as we have been arguing throughout, the process of making and implementing collective decisions for a society. We have also been arguing that, although the governance debate involves a number of questions about the role of social actors in that process, government remains a central, if not the central actor, in the process. We do not say this simply because we are terribly old-fashioned neanderthals who will not admit that the world has changed. We know very well that the world of governing has changed, but there are empirical and normative realities that make us believe that we need to understand the institutions of government if we are to understand governance in a democratic society.