| Summary: |
Few issues have created as much controversy over the past half century as
how governments and political systems should be structured and how public
policies should be made and implemented. Centralists generally believe that
national political leaders and administrators know best how to provide security,
promote economic growth, and maintain political stability. Those who argue
for decentralization generally tend to have a more populist view. They tend to
believe that the best public policies come from wide participation in public
affairs and from local knowledge about how best to solve problems and meet the
needs of citizens.
Globalization has brought increasing interaction among governments, private
enterprise, and organizations of civil society and, with it, increasing pluralism in
shaping public policies both within and among countries. All three of these
entities—governments, private enterprise, and civil society organizations—have
come to be seen as institutions of governance, whose participation is crucial in
mobilizing the knowledge and insight necessary to take advantage of the potential
benefits of globalization and to mitigate or prevent its potential threats.
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