Introduction

Abstract

This chapter emphasizes the important role that governance plays in society and how it shapes the way public policy is made. It recognizes that governance is about both institutions and power, policy and politics. It also identifies two distinct approaches to governance, one that is normative, another that is functional. While the former has been dominant in the literature in the past three decades, there is a growing interest in the functional approach, not the least in Africa where issues of development tend to overshadow those of democracy. The public policy dimension of governance remains under-researched in Africa and many issues deserve wider and deeper attention, notably (1) how policies are made in a political context where change is called for, but institutional legacies tend to stand in the way, (2) how power and authority are distributed and shared among institutional actors in government and society, and (3) how effective policymaking is at a time when policy problems are getting increasingly complex (or wicked) and involving multiple stakeholders. The various chapters in this volume address these issues by focusing on the different facets of the policy process, how it might be improved, and how the material can be best packaged for teaching purposes.