Good Governance: Well-meaning slogan or smart SDG target?

Everyone agrees that having better governments – ones that deliver services efficiently, are less corrupt, and uphold the rule of law – is better than having bad governments. Indeed in a survey of more of than 7 million people, ‘an honest and responsive government’ was fourth in the list of people’s priorities, with only education, healthcare and better jobs being rated higher.

It seems clear then, that the global community should set goals for more transparency, more democracy, more fundamental freedoms and less corruption?
 
Actually no, argues Mary Hilderbrand, from Texas A&M and Harvard University, in a recent paper. As reported by Reuters and multiple Latin American newspapers (e.g. La Prensa in Panama and Milenio in Mexico), most of the time, trying to improve governance doesn’t help at all. For example, a study of 80 countries where the World Bank had programs to improve governance showed that governance improved in 39% of countries but worsened in 25% – what could look like a moderate success. However, all the countries the World Bank didn’t help had similar success and failure rates – suggesting that the World Bank programs had made no difference.
 
That is why proposed targets like “Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all its forms” sound great, but are essentially well-meaning slogans with little content.

One target is worth pursuing: ‘provide legal identity for all, including registering all births’. While this seems overly simple – this target is measurable, clear and defined, so progress can be monitored. It is also likely to be indicative of a functioning and competent public service. 

There are also real benefits to each citizen of having a proper legal identity. It helps them to claim their legal rights and property rights. Elections become less vulnerable to corruption, and it helps for opening a bank account.

You can read all the papers on governance and institutions here and download the one page PDF here.