Research on the “Invisible Indicators” of Good Governance

【Abstract】Speaking of “good governance”， the Increased attention is needed with reference to the feelings of citizens which stimulated by the performance. That is so？鄄called “invisible indicators” in this paper， which includes two parts： feeling of society harmony associated with Asian Values （Beeson， 2007， p. 136）； citizens' feedback which valued on governance. Just like satisfaction， trust to government.

【Keywords】good governance； public sector； government； performance

【中圖分类号】D035 【文献标识码】A 【文章编号】2095-3089（2018）08-0112-02

The “Invisible Indicators”

The concept is relative to those obvious and visible indicators， which is more values？鄄oriented or service？鄄specific oriented. It is analyzed from Asian Values associated with Confucianism （Beeson， 2007， p. 136）， and citizens' feedback.

As to Asian Values， Confucianism is the essence dues to its core rule of civilizational values （Beeson， 2007， p，136）. And the Core ideology of Confucianism is to build a nice and harmony community， which is quite familiar with the aims of good governance？鄄assisting to make our society better， our community more harmony. As a reality， seeking good governance is for the sake of helping the governance better performed， which leads to the highly development of society. While the thriving and prosperous society does not mean the economic prosperity or a sound legal system， but the state of whole society？蒺s harmony. The governance which makes citizens are proud of the nationalities is kind of good governance although it is like the utopia， but really what the governance are pursuing in spiritual level. Therefore， a governance is able to supply citizens society harmony other than sound welfare system is certainly good governance from this aspect.

While Uwe and Somik （2007） acknowledged that citizens？蒺 feedback is service？鄄specific oriented， which includes citizens satisfaction， trust to government， etc. Because under no circumstances can public policy scholars overlook the fact that the feelings of citizens and their feedback do means a lot in measuring governance， which in that citizens are the direct recipients of governance， and certainly their feelings of satisfaction， trust to government need to be take into consideration as an relative soft factor comparing with the performance. Bentham？蒺s Utilitarianism refers to that maximization of individual happiness is the basis of good society. In the same way， the governance brings individuals satisfaction could be regarded as a good one. Thus， what a good governance needs is not only meeting the visible criteria for policy making or its performance and outcomes， but the emotional feedback from citizens grounded on governance performance. As Geert and Steven （2003） referred before， more trust and more satisfaction equal better governance. And increasing the quality of governance will thus also lead to citizens who are more satisfied and more trusting.

Conclusion

Good governance is not an implicit item but relative one. To illustrate a corporate governance as an example， sending dangerous manufacturing processes and toxic wastes to poor countries is good from the angle of effectiveness for the corporation？蒺s benefits and accountability to the firm？蒺s interest as it is capable to minimize the compensation fee when faced up with the problem， and minimizing compensation means maximizing the benefits in some degree. Instead， Viewed from accountability to the citizens of these poor countries， rule of law， the values of Confucianism and the feedback of citizens who get hurts， it is not only a bad governance， but disaster.

Reference

[1]Beeson， M. （2007） Regionalism and Globalization in East Asia： Politics， Security and Economic Development. Palgrave Macmillan

[2]Geert Bouckaert&Steven; van de Walle， Comparing Measures of Citizen Trust and User Satisfaction as Indicators of “Good Governance”， Indicators， September， 2003

[3]Uwe Deichmann&Somik; V. Lall 2007， Citizen Feedback and Delivery of Urban Services， The World Bank， Washington， DC， USA， available online 12 February 2007.

作者簡介：

田汶灵（1989-），女，四川南充人，南充职业技术学院外语系教师，硕士研究生。