Governance Matters 2008 Worldwide Governance Indicators, 1996-2007
Document 5 of 7
The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) projectreports aggregate and individual governance indicators for 212 countries and territories over the period 1996–2007, for six dimensions of governance:
Voice and Accountability
Political Stability and Absence of Violence
Government Effectiveness
Regulatory Quality
Rule of Law
Control of Corruption
The aggregate indicators combine the views of a large number of enterprise, citizen and expert survey respondents in industrial and developing countries. The individual data sources underlying the aggregate indicators are drawn from a diverse variety of survey institutes, think tanks, non-governmental organizations, and international organizations.
The six aggregate indicators and the underlying data sources can be viewed interactively on the Governance Indicators webpage of this site. Documentation of the latest update of the WGI can be found in "Governance Matters VII: Governance Indicators for 1996–2007." Further documentation and research using the WGI is available on the Resources page of this website or at www.worldbank.org/wbi/governance.
Website (URL): http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/index.asp
Author(s): World Bank
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Good Governance Matters
Good Governance Matters: A blog about good governance and development for all This blog is hosted by Daniel Kaufmann, Director at the World Bank Institute in charge of governance. It aims at providing a space for debate and knowledge sharing on governance issues.
Website 3 of 4
Website (URL): http://governanceblog.worldbank.org/node
Dramatic improvements in global economic trends have taken place over the last decade: inflation rates have abated across the board, and public infrastructure has improved markedly. Global governance, on the other hand, offers a more mitigated picture. Its quality has increased significantly in a few countries, and decreased significantly in some others. Everywhere else, it has either stagnated or not followed any consistent trend.
Meanwhile, our understanding of governance has progressed. Thanks to empirical and analytical research undertaken over the last ten years, we now know much more about the quality of public governance worldwide. We also know more about its relation to growth, to economic and social development, and to human rights. The exact reasons why countries have fared so differently still elude us, however. We still don't know why the same governance reforms have worked in some countries, and failed in others. For each successful governance reform, there is a failure, and not always because not enough resources were invested, or because good will was lacking. Lessons from a number of countries are emerging from the field, but the extent to which they can be replicated in other countries and contexts remains an open question.
This blog addresses these issues and others, but also seeks to create a debate about the new directions in which our quest for a better understanding of governance issues should take. In doing so, it relies on existing and upcoming research, analysis, news and experiences from across the world.
Author:
Mr. Daniel Kaufmann
Website 3 of 4
Website (URL): http://governanceblog.worldbank.org/node
Dramatic improvements in global economic trends have taken place over the last decade: inflation rates have abated across the board, and public infrastructure has improved markedly. Global governance, on the other hand, offers a more mitigated picture. Its quality has increased significantly in a few countries, and decreased significantly in some others. Everywhere else, it has either stagnated or not followed any consistent trend.
Meanwhile, our understanding of governance has progressed. Thanks to empirical and analytical research undertaken over the last ten years, we now know much more about the quality of public governance worldwide. We also know more about its relation to growth, to economic and social development, and to human rights. The exact reasons why countries have fared so differently still elude us, however. We still don't know why the same governance reforms have worked in some countries, and failed in others. For each successful governance reform, there is a failure, and not always because not enough resources were invested, or because good will was lacking. Lessons from a number of countries are emerging from the field, but the extent to which they can be replicated in other countries and contexts remains an open question.
This blog addresses these issues and others, but also seeks to create a debate about the new directions in which our quest for a better understanding of governance issues should take. In doing so, it relies on existing and upcoming research, analysis, news and experiences from across the world.
Author:
Mr. Daniel Kaufmann
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Belated Happy Birthday to President Mandela
In his 9oth birthday triump on both success of his longer life and a genuine freedom. Personally, I am happy for his success US Congress and Washington lifted him from a terrorist personality including ANC's mother organization in which for many years branded as the International Terrorist Group by the US Government. From now on President Nelson Mandela taste the real freeman until the last of his breath on earth. The painful experienced of the modern great man almost half of his life expended in jail because of his political belief in the end he is a worthy leader of South Africa. At 90 of age President Mandela can now travel to US free with clear conscience and without fear erase all doubt to become threat to US Government. Your remaining life must explore for a noble works teach other the legacy of good will and wisdom, good intention always in triump in the end, if push though for a noble cause.
Happy Birthday...
Abduljaman Damahan
Happy Birthday...
Abduljaman Damahan
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Where Internet Meets Internet
Where Intellect Meets the Internet
Skip to Editorial Contacts Skip to Internet Evolution in the News
At Internet Evolution we believe that the next huge leap forward in the history of the Internet is happening now – and the goal of our site is to gauge its likely impact on every aspect of life as we know it.
It's obvious that something big is happening in terms of Internet usage: More than 1.1 billion people around the world now use the Internet... Usage is growing at 18 percent per year*... And in 2006 total digital content exceeded 160 exabytes – enough to fill 161 billion iPod shuffles.**
But the Internet is at a tipping point, not just in terms of the number of people using it, but also in terms of how they use it.
Over the last 30 or so years the communications industry has collaborated, often unwittingly, in developing the Internet that we have today – a low-cost, ubiquitous, multimedia network capable of carrying any type of traffic (voice, video, or data) anywhere, anytime. And that network is here, now.
So the BIG questions now are not about the network itself (been there, built that) but about how the network will be used.
That trend is evident in terms of the new focus from both the industry and its customers on services and applications, on things like overcoming the challenges of searching and making sense of this vast amount of Internet information – including machine-capable search, or the semantic Web, as it's been called.
We also see a big change in people's expectations of what the Internet can achieve. It's becoming obvious that the Internet isn't just a new and better method of business communications (a cheaper, fancier telephone for the 21st Century, as it were). Beyond presenting huge opportunities for companies to invent new businesses and improve the ways they run their old businesses, there is a growing consensus – both inside and outside the industry – that the Net has a much wider and more important role to play in improving the quality of life for the world's population.
Examples include using videoconferencing to reduce the amount of business travel and thus aid with the problem of reducing carbon emmissions; addressing the poverty gap between industrialized nations and the developing world, through things like micro-loans... and, of course, how we live our lives: the ways we educate ourselves and our children, the ways we experience entertainment, how we meet and bond with like-minded spirits.
And these are the kinds of topics that we'll be examining closely in Internet Evolution, in two ways.
First, through a series of investigative reports on the most important issues relating to the future of the Internet. Click here to see our editorial calendar
And second, through the ThinkerNet – an interactive forum where an invited assemblage of the Internet's leading minds blog and exchange opinions, while interacting with our audience via message boards. Click here to view our "virtual masthead," or click here to email us about joining the ThinkerNet as a contributor.
One more thing...
Even by the standards of such an exciting and influential technology, the Internet has attracted more than its share of fluffers, bluffers, and blowhards – often pursuing a thinly veiled M&A or IPO agenda. Our goal is to provide an antidote to the illogical boosterism that has always gone hand in hand with the Internet (often with disastrous results).
At Internet Evolution we're aiming to view the future of the Internet through a prism of pragmatism – acting as an anti-bubble that eliminates hype, cuts through the "conventional wisdom," and provides an overdue dose of realism about where the Internet is headed.
We welcome your input and opinions. Send them to editors@internetevolution.com
Skip to Editorial Contacts Skip to Internet Evolution in the News
At Internet Evolution we believe that the next huge leap forward in the history of the Internet is happening now – and the goal of our site is to gauge its likely impact on every aspect of life as we know it.
It's obvious that something big is happening in terms of Internet usage: More than 1.1 billion people around the world now use the Internet... Usage is growing at 18 percent per year*... And in 2006 total digital content exceeded 160 exabytes – enough to fill 161 billion iPod shuffles.**
But the Internet is at a tipping point, not just in terms of the number of people using it, but also in terms of how they use it.
Over the last 30 or so years the communications industry has collaborated, often unwittingly, in developing the Internet that we have today – a low-cost, ubiquitous, multimedia network capable of carrying any type of traffic (voice, video, or data) anywhere, anytime. And that network is here, now.
So the BIG questions now are not about the network itself (been there, built that) but about how the network will be used.
That trend is evident in terms of the new focus from both the industry and its customers on services and applications, on things like overcoming the challenges of searching and making sense of this vast amount of Internet information – including machine-capable search, or the semantic Web, as it's been called.
We also see a big change in people's expectations of what the Internet can achieve. It's becoming obvious that the Internet isn't just a new and better method of business communications (a cheaper, fancier telephone for the 21st Century, as it were). Beyond presenting huge opportunities for companies to invent new businesses and improve the ways they run their old businesses, there is a growing consensus – both inside and outside the industry – that the Net has a much wider and more important role to play in improving the quality of life for the world's population.
Examples include using videoconferencing to reduce the amount of business travel and thus aid with the problem of reducing carbon emmissions; addressing the poverty gap between industrialized nations and the developing world, through things like micro-loans... and, of course, how we live our lives: the ways we educate ourselves and our children, the ways we experience entertainment, how we meet and bond with like-minded spirits.
And these are the kinds of topics that we'll be examining closely in Internet Evolution, in two ways.
First, through a series of investigative reports on the most important issues relating to the future of the Internet. Click here to see our editorial calendar
And second, through the ThinkerNet – an interactive forum where an invited assemblage of the Internet's leading minds blog and exchange opinions, while interacting with our audience via message boards. Click here to view our "virtual masthead," or click here to email us about joining the ThinkerNet as a contributor.
One more thing...
Even by the standards of such an exciting and influential technology, the Internet has attracted more than its share of fluffers, bluffers, and blowhards – often pursuing a thinly veiled M&A or IPO agenda. Our goal is to provide an antidote to the illogical boosterism that has always gone hand in hand with the Internet (often with disastrous results).
At Internet Evolution we're aiming to view the future of the Internet through a prism of pragmatism – acting as an anti-bubble that eliminates hype, cuts through the "conventional wisdom," and provides an overdue dose of realism about where the Internet is headed.
We welcome your input and opinions. Send them to editors@internetevolution.com
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