Good governance, state capacity, and the Millennium Development Goals

Publication Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

8-2011

Abstract

International development agencies argue that "good governance" is crucial to attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but there are many ways to define and measure good governance. The paper begins by examining the World Bank's minimal state conception of governance and then proposes an alternative approach based on strengthening state capacity. The paper tests this framework by developing a provisional Millennium Governance Index (MGI) for 126 countries. In comparative empirical analysis, the MGI has noticeably higher statistical correlations than the World Bank's governance indicators on six out of seven MDGs even after controlling for per capita income levels. © 2011 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden.

Keywords

development; global development, good governance, governance indicators, MDGs, millennium development goals, state capacity, taxation, World Bank

Discipline

Growth and Development | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration

Research Areas

Political Science

Publication

Perspectives on Global Development and Technology

Volume

10

Issue

2

First Page

339

Last Page

360

ISSN

1569-1500

Identifier

10.1163/156914911X582468

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1163/156914911X582468

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