Triangle Relationship between public policy, good governannce and peace.

MD. Shakhawoat Hossain

Department of Peace and Conflict Studies

University of Dhaka.

Introduction:

Public policy has an essential link between establishing good governance and attaining durable peace. These all three parts always reflect positively or negatively in internal and external environment of any country, because when we think about a state, first of all we want to observe well presents of these three issues, then we can decide whether is good or bad. So it is true that, when a state policy process will be characterized with accountability and transparency then it can be able to manage legitimate election to establish an active parliamentarian government who will work for creating strong public administrative body, operate state institution honestly, take effective strategies for strengthening democracy, settling structural violence and any kinds of political disputes, enhancing good governance and rule of law, protecting minority people, human rights and fundamental freedoms and show their creativity and talent in the process of agenda setting (problem recognition), policy formulation ( proposal of solution), decision making (choice of solution),  policy implementation ( putting solution into effect) and policy evaluation ( monitoring result) to preserve peace and security. In the following I would like to discuss about public policy, governance and peace and try to show a triangle relationship among them.

Public policy:

Public policy has many competing definitions. Some are very complex, while others are quite simple. Despite their variations, they all agree on certain key aspects. They agree that public policies result from decisions made by governments and those decisions by governments to retain the status quo are just as much policy as are decisions to alter it. Some famous scholar definition of public policy are given below -

·         Thomas Dye offers a particularly succinct formulation, describing public policy as "Anything a government chooses to do or not to do". From this Dye specifies two important issues-First, Dye specifies clearly that the agent of public policy-making is a government. This means that private business decisions, decisions by charitable organizations, interest groups, other social groups, or individuals are not in themselves public policies. Second, Dye highlights the fact that public policies involve a fundamental choice on the part of governments to do something or do nothing and that this decision is made by individuals staffing the state and its agencies.

·         William Jenkins's conceptualization of public policy is bit more precise than the one offered by Dye illustrates many of the same themes. He defines public policy as ' a set of interrelated decisions taken by a political actor or group of actors concerning the selection of goals and the means of achieving them within the specified situation where those decisions should, in principle, be within the power of those actors to achieve(Jenkins 1978).

·         A middle-range definition is also provided by James Anderson. He describes a policy as ' a purposive course of action followed by an actor or set of actors in dealing with a problem or matter of concern '(Anderson, 1998:3)

(2002).

·          According to Adger et al. (2002). “Public policy is the outcome of a series of decisions on what constitute a problem, what possible solutions are and how to implement the preferred solution”.

Features of public policy:

Public policy has some basic features. These include -

·         Public policy is characterized by its publicness that is public policies are meant to protect the interest of the public in general.

·         Public policy must be in line with the constitutional law.

·         Reflection of the political commitment of the party in power.

·         It is compulsory to all. That is no one above the implication of public policy. For that matter public policy could be treated as the utilitarian law of the land.

·          Public policies are goal oriented and purposive as against random governmental action.

·         Reactive as well as proactive by nature.

Governance:

The term governance is refers to a broader range of processes which contribute to the aggregation of interests and demands and to the coordination of social activities (Mayntz 1993).  Beside this governance has also different meaning, but here we will use the term governance as good governance. According to the World Bank (1992) Governance is ' the exercise of political power to manage a nation's affairs' and ' Good governance involves- “an efficient public service, an independent judicial system and legal framework to enforce contracts; the accountable administration of public funds; an independent public auditor, responsible to a representative legislature; respect for the law and human rights at all level of government; a pluralistic institutional structure, and free press”.

Features of good governance:

Some important features of good governance are given below -

·         Participation: All men and women should have a voice of decision making, either directly or through legitimate intermediate institutions that represent their interests. Such broad participation in built on freedom of association and speech, as well as capacities to participate constructively.

·         Rule of law: Legal framework should be fair and enforced impartiality, particularly the laws of human rights.

·         Transparency: Transparency is built on the free flow of information, processes, institutions and information are directly accessible to those concerned with them and enough information is provided to understand and monitor them.

·         Responsiveness: Institutions and processes try to serve all stakeholders.

·         Consensus orientation: Good governance mediates differing interests to reach a broad consensus on what is the best interests of the group and where possible, on policies and procedures.

·         Equity: All men and women have opportunities to improve or maintain their well-being.

·         Effectiveness and efficiency: Processes and institutions produce results that meet needs while making the best use of resources.

·         Accountability: Decision-makers in government, the private sector and civil society organizations are accountable to the public, as well as to institutional stakeholders.  This accountability differs depending on the organization and whether the decision is internal or external to an organization.

·         Strategic vision: Leaders and the public have a broad and long-term perspective on good governance and human development along with a sense of what is needed for such development.

Peace:

Peace is absence of absence of war. It is always emphasis the establishment of positive, life-enhancing values and social structure. It is a most preferable thing all over the world. However, peace, like many theoretical terms, is difficult to define. Like Happiness, harmony, justice and freedom.

·         Johan Gatling, a founder of peace studies and peace research, has proposed the important distinction between "positive “and "negative “peace. “Positive peace “denotes the simultaneous presence of many desirable States of mind and society. Such as harmony, justice, equity and so on."Negative peace “has historically denoted the “absence of war" and other forms of large-scale violent human conflict.

·         The Webster's Third new international dictionary define peace in many ways -

a.       Peace is “a state of security and order within a community provided for by law, customs or public opinion"

b.      Mental or spiritual condition marked by freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotion”

c.       “Astate of mutual concord between governments; absence of hostilities and war.

Key features of peace:

a.       Presence of cooperation.

b.      Freedom from fear.

c.       Freedom from want.

d.      Economic growth and development.

e.       Absence of exploration.

f.       Equality.

g.      Justice.

h.      Freedom of action.

i.        Pluralism.

j.        Dynamism.

Triangle relationships among public policy, governance and Peace:

For proving the triangle relationships among public policy, governance and peace, we need be clear about some important issues.

·         Firstly, “who is actually influence in the processes of public policy”?  We know that public policy is whatever government chooses to do or not to do. So every single activities of government is related with public policy and definitely government influence as the very important actor for problem identification, decision making, policy formulation and policy evaluation.

·         Secondly, we also need to be clear that “what types of government is preferable for promoting effective public policies”? It is true that only good governing system can take important part for making policies according to the state need and people interest. Such as they can contribute for establishing and enforcing "rule of law", arranging fair election for establishing democratic government, taking steps for protecting violence against women, minority people and civil security,  creating enabling policies for participation in the global economy, improving government services to citizens through public innovation, strengthening public institutions for economic development, enhancing public administration capacity, empowering citizens through organization of civil society, extending services through public -private partnership etc.

·         Thirdly, we have to find out “what functions of good governance are related in public policy”? It is true that, good governance always related with acting according to the public interest. So they often maintain some important functions in public policy which are given below -

a.       Strong commitment to integrity, ethical values and rule of law.

b.      Openness and comprehensive stakeholder engagement.

c.       Defining outcomes in terms of sustainable economic, social and environmental benefits.

d.      Determining the intervention necessary to optimize the achievement of intended outcomes.

e.       Developing the capacity on entity, including the capability of its leadership and the individuals within it.

f.       Managing risks and performance through robust internal control and strong public financial management.

g.      Implementing good practice in transparency and reporting to deliver effective accountability.

We need take care about the relationships between functions of good governance in public policy, because if the functions of good governance do not work in policy, it will create difficulties in policy implementation process. For example - In the women policy of Bangladesh it is clearly indicated that government is responsible for taking effective steps for women empowerment economically, socially and politically,  this policy is good and must appreciate it for our sustainable development  and governance also good (as they claim), but what are the outcomes of this policy. We often saw that women those who come out for work or attending in social or political events are facing harassment, discrimination, sexual assault and so on. So it's clear that government fails to create proper accommodation and security for women, that's it can't make peace in our society. So only good governance and good policy is not enough, good governance functions also need to relate with it.

·         Fourthly, “what types of strategies government should take for post conflict reconstruction and peace building”? Because this is very important and it requires active governmental participation in policy making which interact with public interest. Some important strategies government should take for achieving durable peace which are given below-

a.       Building inclusive social contracts: Building inclusive social contract is an important mechanism for peaceable co-existence of various groups in a society. It requires attention to the relationship between state institutions in all group in society including the most vulnerable ones and those previously discriminated against. A solid inclusive social contract underpinned by democratic governance can help maintain equilibrium between competing interests and reduce fragility and likelihood of organized violence and can be helpful for achieving durable peace.

b.      Promoting Rule of law, justice, security and human rights: For ensuring durable peace government should aware about promoting rule of law, concern about the principles of human rights and ensure everyone has access to justice and provides a secure and predictable development environment.

c.       Make inclusive political process: Government should improve inclusive political process, because it can ensure citizen participation, voice and accountability through electoral process, parliamentary development, constitutional process and civic engagement.

d.       Responsive and accountable institution: It helps to enhance trust in the legitimacy and capacity of state.

e.       Conflict prevention: To build local leadership capacities and mechanism to help prevent and manage conflict.

·         Lastly, we have to finalize which theory of public policy we need to use to implement these triangle relationships among public policy, governance and peace?  

a.       Public choice theory: We can't use public choice theory in this model, it just work for minimizing personal interest. So it will be difficult for government to take decisions based on the individual interests, because everyone can have specific choice or demands. Example- The government of Bangladesh takes policy for providing free and compulsory primary education for every child, but we can see that many private primary schools in our country which have good reputation for excellent academic opportunity compare to the government run primary school. So parents those have good economic condition, they are sending their children in good schools instead of government primary schools. So its create little bit classification in our society which not able to ensure proper implement of this policy which can bring peace.

b.      Elite theory: We also can't use elite theory for this model, because in elite theory public policy making always influence by elite groups and their interests. So it can't able to ensure mass people interest. Example- Association of South Asian Nations (ASEAN) State decision making process always influence by elite concept. So we its decisions making process always characterized with conservative attitudes.

c.       Game Theory: We know that game theory mainly focuses on the others do in terms of competition.  So competition can make policy process very competitive for bring peace.

d.      Group theory: If we use group theory in this model, we have possibility to get good outcome from it, because in group theory individuals and common interests group has rights to interact together in central facts of politics according to their demands and needs. So when every citizens and institutions can get equal opportunity to take part in decision making or can share their attitude and views about the problem in their society, It will make state authority more accountable in the process of policy making based on the specific claims and demands and solve any kinds of problem or disputes very easily for achieving sustainable development and peace. Example- In pluralistic society like USA, Every single citizen and interest group has rights to freedom of speech and they can contribute in state public policy making and they have also rights to criticize the policy. So it helps state government to make policy according to the people interest.

Conclusion: To sum up, it can be said that public policy, governance and peace are closely link with one another where key strategies are come from the government. If the government of the state can able to take effective steps for promoting public policies focusing on the people interests and demands and emphasize on the establishing good governing system, it will be easer gain sustainable development and durable peace.

Reference

A.     "Public policy making in Bangladesh: an overview" by Dr. Salahuddin Aminuzzaman, University of Dhaka.

B.     "Understanding Governance" by R.A.W Rhodes.

C.     Building inclusive societies and sustaining peace through democratic governance by UNDP.

D.    Peace a world history by Antony Adolf 2009, UK.

E.     Webster's Third International dictionary, 1993.

F.     Irfan Islamy, principles of state policy formulation, 2002, Jakarta.

G.    Thomas Dye, 1976, policy analysis: what governments do, why they do it and difference it maake, University of Albama Press.

H.    Relationship between governance crisis and public policy: Beyond the policy window by Hin Yeung Chan, Lignan University.

I.        Public policy and Governance by Sudir Kumar (2012). Department of Political Science, BBAU.

J.       Good governance and policy analysis by Saeed Parto, 2005.

K.     Good governance in the public sector -consultation Draft for an International framework, June 2013, by IFAC( International Federation of Accountants)

L.      Theories of Peace: A synthetic Approach to Peace thinking, by Johan Gultung, International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, 1967.