What is Governance; and Difference between Forms, Systems and Styles of Governance

Governance is:

controlling the affairs of a people, both individually and collectively, as it relates to and towards their shared interests as a group.

 – Yakubu (2023)

Understanding governance, is very critical to understanding and DISTINGUISHING between forms of governance, politics and forms of politics (and even forms of economics such as capitalism, communism etc.) and many other concepts that are, but should NOT be, confounded with each other.

Governance is also NOT the same as management (but to which we will not digress; more info in the source below) although management usually takes place under a governmental structure and mandate.

Put simply, again, governance is controlling a people and the state.

We can control them by:

• Policing them
• Settling disputes among them
• Apportioning rights amongst them
• Controlling shared infrastructure and resources etc.

This is all part of governing.

FORMS OF GOVERNANCE describe “in what form” or “within which structure or framework” or “by which approach” this activity of governing is carried out. This is very important, and is something a lot of people (including top scholars) get wrong.

When we describe a form of governance, we’re describing IN WHAT SHAPE the ACTIVITY of governing itself occurs; the nature or approach to governing.

It is not just about how we select the team that comes in to govern (i.e. elections for example); that’s part of, but only a small part of and merely preliminary to, actually governing. The form of governance describes the course of the activity itself; how governing itself takes place.

A good example is a music performance. We can have different forms of music performance: a solo act, a duet, a band, a choir etc.. The form or kind of music performance is not just about how we select the singer(s), it’s about what form the performance itself takes.

Governance, too, can take different forms. We can have one person ruling and taking decisions on everyone else (and in effect governing),¹ we can have a few people ruling, and we can have everyone rule, depending on other factors. This is the nature of government itself. Government can take different forms, including:

• Autocracy = rule of one
• Syndicacy² or Oligarchy = rule of the few
• Democracy = rule of everyone

There are many others. The meanings are literally in the names themselves: -cracy (from kratia or kratos) or -archy (either may be used in different contexts) mean rule or power. And the prefix to that describes or hints at WHO is ruling or WHO has power. It’s that simple.

Over the past few centuries and especially in the last few decades, many authors have corrupted the meaning of some of these words due to their own errors and conflated ideas;³ and then influenced others.

SYSTEM OF GOVERNANCE refers to the specific design (the specific set of institutions, processes and provisions) implemented to adopt or realize a form of government. So, the system refers to the specific implementation, whereas the form refers to the nature or approach it takes. For instance, we can design specific (and even different) systems for the pursuit of democracy, as long as it remains a democracy (rule of everyone).

Note that direct and indirect democracy are not systems of governance, but still forms of governance – they are forms of democracy, which is itself a form of governance. Examples of systems of governance are presidential and parliamentary systems. These are NOT democracies, however (as they are wrongly called today), but rather syndicacies or oligarchies (or “republics,” as termed by founders of the U.S.). Learn about democracy.

REGARDLESS of the form of government in place, whoever is governing may govern in certain ways. So, we may have different…

STYLES OF GOVERNANCE

Any form of government (an autocracy, monarchy, democracy etc.) can govern:

1. Strictly or freely (i.e. authoritarian vs egalitarian or libertarian rule)
2. Conservatively or liberally
3. Constitutionally (by rule of law) or dictatorially (by decree)

And ANY OF THESE forms of government and their style of government can result in…

GOOD GOVERNANCE vs. BAD GOVERNANCE

Depending on how citizens view the outcome of their governing activities.

Just like a solo, band or choir performance can result in good or bad music (some more likely than the other).

Either a democracy, autocracy, monarchy or other forms of governance can result in good or bad governance depending on how they apply the activities of governance (i.e. apportioning rights, policing, managing infrastructure etc. already hinted at above).

So, democracy, for instance, DOES NOT MEAN good governance.

These are separate fundamental concepts that must not be, but often are, confounded or conflated.

Footnotes:

1. There is a nuanced relationship between rulership and government which is not explored in this post. More info in sources cited.
2. This is a new word coined by the author, for reasons available in source material.
3. Unfortunately we simply do not have the space to resolve all those here; check out other posts or sources cited.

Source: The Tragedy Called Democracy in the 21st Century (2023) pp. 8-9, 141-145