Conclusion : towards more effective and better governance
Document Type
Book chapter
Source Publication
Public governance in Asia and the limits of electoral democracy
Publication Date
1-1-2010
First Page
284
Last Page
290
Publisher
Edward Elgar
Abstract
In particular, Asians appear to espouse the ideals of governments being responsive to people’s needs and being held accountable to them as much as do Westerners. It also appears to be a universal truth that “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Thus our central conclusion in our survey of the experiences among Asian countries is that we all need effective mechanisms of governance, to ensure that the rule of law is upheld, to prevent the abuse of publicly vested power for private gains, and to ensure accountability. In allowing people to change a government when it fails to satisfy, democracy does provide one mechanism of governance. But what counts more is whether the total package of governance mechanisms works better or worse. After all, in the East as much as in the West, we need to guard against possible abuses of power.
Publisher Statement
Copyright © Brian Bridges and Lok Sang Ho 2010. Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.
Additional Information
Paper presented at the International Conference on Lessons from History, Jun 09-10, 2006, Hong Kong, China.
ISBN of the source publication: 9781848446281
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Bridges, B., & Ho, L. S. (2010). Conclusion: Towards more effective and better governance. In B. Bridges & L. S. Ho (Eds.), Public governance in Asia and the limits of electoral democracy (pp. 284-290). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.