Good Governance in Pakistan

Ramsha Ali THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL IS AS PER REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF B.A. (HONS).DEGREE IN POLITICAL SCIENCE

Kinnaird College For women Lahore Session 2009-2013

1.1-Introduction
Good governance has gained significant attention in the world especially in the last decade. In recent years, good governance has attracted the attention of economists, political scientists, lawyers, politicians, national institutions, and institutions of World Bank and IMF. Since some empirical and heretical controversies have been found on the concept and importance of good governance but it can be considered as a prerequisite for economic growth and development. Governance can also be seen as the instrument of the effectiveness of a societys institutions. If the institutions are appropriate and effective, the outcome should be good governance (Duncan, 2003).

 Good governance creates a good environment for investment, including investment in people, and leads to higher income, reduces poverty, and provides better social indicators. According to UNDP, governance can be worked out as economic, political and administrative authorities to manage a country's affairs at all levels. It joints the systems, processes and institutions, through which residents and groups articulate their interests, put into affect their legal rights, meet their obligations and mediate their differences. More modern studies have pointed out that face-to-face interactions, trust and partnership within voluntary associations enhance the capacity of people to work together. By helping residents to overcome combined action problems, trust and membership in voluntary associations are recognized as important factors in building the basis for responsive governance (khan, 2006)

 Good governance has got great importance in our state as the problems of corruption, red tapism and inefficiency crept in the internal structure of our country. Today good governance not only occupies central place in our state but also regarded as crucial element in building nation. Governance is the instrument of political, economic and administrative authorities to manage a nation's affairs. It is the diverse mechanisms, processes, relationships and institutions through which residents of country and groups communicative their benefits, exercise their rights and obligations and arbitrate their differences. In good governance countries, the working condition is generally more favorable for providing protection and guarantees for investors. Good governance is therefore a compartment of governance, where in public capital and problems are managed effectively, efficiently and in response to vital needs of society. Effective elected forms of governance rely on public participation, accountability and transparency.

 Good governance can be identified with the following features: i. Good governance is mutually supportive and cooperative relationships between government, society, and the private sector. The nature of relationships among these three characters, and the need to make stronger system to facilitate interactions, assume critical importance. ii. Good governance is defined as control of all, or some combination of, the following elements: contribution, transparency of decision-making, accountability, rule of law, predictability. iii. Good governance is normative in origin. The values that provide the foundation for governance are the values postulated by the defining characters and institutions (khan, 2006).

1.2- Historical Background

In Pakistan, performance of government has generally been less than satisfactory. The country started with weak political and administrative infrastructure, which has unable to create healthy traditions. Pakistan had two wings located for away from each other with a hostile neighboring country. The political structure was monopolized by the landed gentry who created severe strains and stresses for the new state, lagging behind the country in social and economic sectors. The country took nine long years to formulate the constitution. Before the election were held under the new constitution, the army stepped in and put a stop to the political process resulting in the poor governance in the country. Martial law is essentially negation of the constitution and rule of law, in which the rights of people are violated by the governments. Efficient administration is no substitute for a democratic government. Most of the ills and evils caused besetting the country backward. Its political system and instability are due to the disruption of political process.

 Not that the political government are the most efficient on clean but with repeated elections without outside intervention or interruption, the condition could be created for the emergence of better and experienced leadership. This unfortunately has not happened in Pakistan. Even when there was a democratic government the army remained involved in the politics of the country, creating hurdles for the good governance. Even now-a-days Pakistan is also facing the same problem and military is occupying the reins of government. Good governance is also about economizing effort and careful use of national resources. It is appropriate for a heavily indebted country, in which almost one third of the population is living below poverty line on the other hand more than six dozen cabinet ministers are enjoying with ministerial perks and privileges. The Prime Minister claims that he is keeping a watchful eye on the performance of all ministers. Even he cannot review the work of the minister which will result in the poor performance and poor governance. This environment led to the poor governance in Pakistan and the concept of good government is vanishing here after (khan, 2006).

2.1-Hypothesis Prevailing condition of governance in Pakistan is major hindrance in progress and development of a country. 3.1-Research Questions What are the causes of failure of good governance in Pakistan? What is difference between good governance and poor governance? What are the parameters of good governance? What are the impacts of good governance on development of Pakistan?

4.1-Significance: Good governance is a key factor in development prosperity and progress of every country. The current situation of government in Pakistan is one of the major reasons of political, social and economic unrest and instability. Researcher has chosen this topic because researcher has observed that situation of governance in Pakistan is a big obstacle in development and prosperity of country and researcher want to figure out the parameters of good governance. This research study would help to understand concept of good governance and would also bring awareness among masses, regarding the impact of good governance in formation of developed societies. 4.2-Methodology: The research is based upon primary and secondary data collection using unstructured interviews. Moreover the researcher will be doing for content analysis and will be descriptive in nature.

5.1-Literature review
(Hussain and Hussain, 1993) stated that the crisis, which is at the root of all other crises, is that of good governance. Problems like poverty. Illiteracy, unemployment, corruption, energy crisis, water and food shortage are weakening our country at its roots. In this gloomy scenario, good governance is the dire need of the hour. Though good governance has always been a dream for our country yet this dream can be transformed onto reality. Sincere and dedicated leadership can make this dream come true. But it cannot be achieved in a wink of an eye. Author has narrated the problems obstructing good governance in Pakistan but has not mentioned solutions for these problems. The researcher has worked out with the problems and come up with the following solution. It requires a great toil and sacrifice. Our youth can play a very vital role in this regard. Now, it is very easy to raise public opinion for good governance through the use of electronic media. The meetings and rallies are also very important means to bring the trend of good governance on the right track. The youth can be actively involved in organizing such programmes. Let hope that our leaders are smart enough to introduce much needed reforms in the system.

(Bakhsh, 2004) Evaluated that Good Governance flourish in a necessarily corruption free situation. Pakistan is unfortunately way down on the steps on this account. Corruption of all magnitudes mega, moderate and petty fill all tiers of governance and all segments of the society public, private, political, judicial, commercial and even religions. Ironically corruption acts as the balancing market mechanism here in a vastly unregulated administrative pattern. There exists unreal economic grounds for this give and take at the individual level but economic cost to the society is fantastic. Corruption severely impacts the life of the citizens through less returns on resource use and adds manifold to their cost of living. Genesis of corruption in Pakistan can be traced to the mega events of 1940s to 1990s and even the current decade. Serious attempts at accountability originating in mid 1990s and prepared on the turn of the century comically turned into tools of political support or victimization. For the last two years there is a practically a legal vacuum at the national level. A host of measures are needed to eradicate this threat. The awareness in the general public and emergence of a strong civil society, loud media and a newly independent judiciary all by themselves stand as a guarantee to the success of any future programme of accountability. It helped out the researcher to have a detailed research on the impact of corruption on good governance.

(Duncan, 2003) has argued that the role of institutions and governance has not been incorporated formally into the economic theory of growth. At present, some studies found associations between institutions and economic growth but not have been incorporated with good governance. Since the development of indicators for good governance have not theoretical basis, and used some proxies of good governance in the form of economic administration and other government performance-related variables that indicate the standard of governance in a country. If governance is result of the appropriateness and effectiveness of a countrys institutions, governance indicators can be seen as indicators of the quality of a countrys institutions. Regulations can be used to induce bribes/corruption or other lobbying activities to bring about changes, or at least waivers, of the regulations in question. The Content of the para given above would open new horizons for researcher on this topic in future.

 (Hussain, 1999) has undertaken a detailed study on governance and institutions with particular reference to Pakistan. He elaborated the concepts of governance and institutions, their definitions and relationships. He divided public sector functions into three categories, namely, policymaking, service delivery, and oversight and accountability. Moreover, he also presented the pillars of good governance and also emphasized on good governance based on appropriate institutional reforms and broad-based sustained economic growth policies.

 (Zia-ul-Islam, 2001) gave that the concept of governance relates to the quality of the relationship between government and the citizens whom it exists to serve and protect. Governance may be defined as the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a countrys economic and social resources for development. This concept is concerned directly with the management of development process, involving both the public and private sector. Good governance relates to a pluralistic and holistic view where responsibility is jointly shared by players in public sector, the corporate private sector, and civil society by addressing the issues of accountability, transparency, participation, openness, rule of law and predictability. It is also a key link between growth and reduction of poverty and inequality. As growth generates income, good governance trickles this effect down to the masses, particularly the poor. The State is responsible for creating a conducive political, legal and economic environment for building individual capabilities and encouraging private initiative. The market on the other hand, is expected to create opportunities for people. Civil society facilitates mobilization of public opinion and peoples participation in economic, social and political activities. The contents of the afore mentioned para helped the researcher to prepare introduction.

Organization of Study
Chapter-1 : - Introduction - Historical Background Chapter-2: - Hypothesis Chapter-3: - Research Questions Chapter-4 - Significance - Methodology Chapter-5: - Literature review

References:
Bakhsh, A. M. (2004). Anti-Corruption: Strategies in Pakistan. Lahore: Book Biz. Duncan, R.C. (2003, September). Governance and growth. Paper presented to the Symposium on Governance held at the University of the South Pacific, Suva. Retrived from https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:_zSMsKMP5LAJ:cloud1.gdnet.org/cms.php%3Fid %3Dcv_download%26researcher_id%3D5781+Duncan,+R.C.+2003.+Governance+and+growth,+ paper+presented+to+the+Symposium+onGovernance+held+at+the+University+of+the+South+Pac ific,+Suva,+September.&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESihrFs5u1lxUKjkudDckhS1a3J15p Ft88qj8dAVzfxR7OVwn13DBJx2eitvJHmsK1QOOSAcrgyZQlRiP582ykynILgKvT4Kdw_JOYTg GCHz90ybcWSkOA7JJXvFtBDXvfGIKHby&sig=AHIEtbQXi3N3Jv08XNz8OP92asgzn1nMPA Husain, I. (1999). Institution of Restraint: The Misiing Element in Pakistan's Governance. The Pakistann Development , 511515. Retrived from http://www.researchgate.net/publication/24046157_Institutions_of_Restraint_The_Missing_Eleme nt_in_Pakistans_Governance Hussain, M., & hussain, A. (1993). Pakistan: Problems of Governance . Lahore: Vanguard Books Pvt.Ltd. Javaid, U. (2010). Corruption and its deep imapct on Pakistan. Lahore: Book Biz. Khan, D. S. (2006). Public Administration:with special reference to Pakistan. Lahore: Amjad Malik. Mahmood, S. (2007). Good Governance Reforms in Agenda in Pakistan. Newyork: Nova Scienc. Siddiqui, T. A. (2001). Towards Good Governance. Oxford University Press. Zia-ul-Islam. (2001). Good Governance for Pakistan.