Overview

Governance is important but hard to understand or do right. We use the TAPIC framework to shed light on governance’s contribution to policy success and failure via the Transparency, Accountability, Participation, Integrity and Capacity dimensions of governance. Looking at governance this way puts the old “steering versus rowing” debate in a fresh light. Elaborate separations of policy and management or complex public private-private partnerships can overtax governance and choke off valuable information, whether by making decisions opaque, diminishing accountability, or increasing demands on integrity and capacity. Simpler mechanisms can work better. As in boating, to steer is often to row.