Multi-level governance for Sustainability?

The crucial linkage – good governance and its role in promoting sustainable development – is actually what underlies the functions, processes and the structure.

If governance is not effectively implemented at the global, regional, national, sub-national/local levels, it is expected that the demands of the multiple actors that exist in these realms will not be met and it can and does generate tensions, particularly where there are resource constraints.

While I recognize that the global level governance makes provision for the legal and policy instruments for transnational relations, my discussions on governance have often focused on the national and sub-national/local levels because this is where the sustainability concept is operational and can be realized.

Firstly, the state is the principal agent of development and change and is structurally supported by the sub-national and local processes and institutions. Any analysis of what could promote good governance therefore, should make a deliberate attempt to assess the structures, the characteristics and dynamics of actors and actions influencing the quality of governance - i.e.the functions, processes and structure of good governance.

In this respect, practical levels of realizing good governance also provide the platform for dealing with issues of equity and equality and subsequently the framework for identifying deficits and building institutional capacities for implementing the defined legal and policy instruments.

My view is that institutional capacities underpin successful development, adoption and implementation of sustainable development - making room for effective and relevant technological designs and guiding the conceptualization of sustainable development strategies.

Given the interrelationships exiting at the different levels and within and among the functions and processes, perhaps we may want to then strive towards the definition of a multi-level framework of governance that embraces this diversity, but which allows for definition of effective operational actions, and which caters for the governance paradigm shifts at the sectoral levels.Whatever the framework, it must address the power, poverty and inequality issues that often hamper sustainability.

... and conflict management ?

Perhaps this is stating the obvious, but just as our current governance models often lead to conflict, an ideal (or more ideal) governance model should help buffer and neutralise conflict.

From that position the question is how to get from here to there, and that's what keeps me going. There are the many dissections and analyses, case studies, theories and applications, models, systems, and approaches. These spring up within a plethora of different socioeconomic and culturally specific settings, further adding to the complexity.

There are certain principles, such as inclusion (ownership), accountability and transparency, and so on (please remind me of the rest). Something I have become very consumed by lately is the relationship between governance and sustainability. Hopefully we can all agree that decades of misuse have not diminished the importance and meaningfulness of that word.

A young idea for me but fundamentally poor governance wastes resources. This waste often materialises as conflict in various forms at various scales. This wasteful, inefficient governance can not lead us to a more sustainable model of social organisation.

So to turn it around, does sustainability offer a specific value proposition to stakeholder X that might cause them to be more open to embrace the principles of good governance (i.e. true consultation and inclusion, proactive transparency and reporting/accountability, etc)? I wonder. And how to take yet another theory and do something useful with it?!