Improving national governance

In recent years governance has come under strain in both industrialized and developing countries, albeit for different reasons. Whereas in the former countries the causes may be traced to the changing norms of political and economic life, in the latter the related problems have been intensified by the sharp contrast between the growth in social demands and the capacity of the institutional framework -- including the institutions of the state, the private sector and the civil society -- to satisfy them. Governance and appropriate systems of government have also emerged as an area of concern for international development organizations, in the wake of the realization that many projects supported with external financial and technical resources failed to yield the anticipated rates of return. One reason was that investments were made in highly distorted policy environments, which prevented benefits from materializing.