Document Type : Original Article
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Abstract
The term “governance” or “good governance” is one of the most important concepts that has garnered the attention of many international organizations, leading to the development of multiple interpretations of the term. Due to these differences, governance has become a topic of debate worldwide.
Governance is a relatively new term in the Arabic language, initially associated with companies. Although the concept of governance varies across different social sciences, it has settled over the past half-century to refer to the use of a set of rules and mechanisms aimed at enhancing the transparency of decisions, contracts, and transactions, thereby improving the efficiency of institutions, organizations, and bodies, and supporting oversight mechanisms.
Corporate governance is defined as a strict system for monitoring both financial and non-financial aspects, through which the entire company is directed and supervised. It involves a precise delineation of the roles of the main actors in the company, including shareholders, the board of directors, executive management, and stakeholders.
Like many developmental policies that began in the private sector, governance has transitioned to the public sector. It is defined as the sound management of all state institutions through governance principles. Eight principles are proposed: transparency, participation, accountability, rule of law, anti-corruption, responsiveness, justice, efficiency, and effectiveness.
There are many global organizations and think tanks concerned with global governance indicators, the most important of which is the World Bank, which publishes the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI). The research recommends raising awareness of the concept of governance in general and with focus on the public sector in particular, due to its impact on increasing public trust in the government sector. This, in turn, enhances the country›s ability to attract local and international investors, leading to economic growth and, subsequently, the economic development of Egypt
The study concluded that despite the confusion and weakness of data related to corruption derived from victim, whistleblower, and witness reports, which are the basis for direct methods; these methods are the most reliable for producing detailed information about corruption. Additionally, there are modern experimental methods for measuring corruption, including public expenditure tracking surveys, using online platforms and social media, focus groups, the Delphi method, interviews, content analysis, statistical analysis, and others.
Moreover, the ranking of countries in terms of corruption measurement by indirect methods used in some international organizations’ indices does not take into account important factors that influence the measurement of corruption, such as population size, number of economic activities, size of natural resources, size of the administrative apparatus, and other significant and decisive data in the extent of corruption.
The study recommends establishing a national and direct measure to assess corruption in the country. Resorting to indirect methods is seen as expressing hypothetical viewpoints rather than clear, realistic facts and percentages. There is a need for the cooperation of state institutions and law enforcement agencies to develop a direct local indicator for measuring corruption.
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