Amandla

South Africa ranked fifth overall in the 2011 Ibrahim Index of governance quality in Africa, but fared poorly in the area of personal safety... From Polity.org.za

From Mo Ibrahim Foundation

Downloads

2011 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (zip format 5MB) 

2011 Ibrahim Index of African Goverance (RAR Files 1.38MB each)
Part 1 of 3, Part 2 of 3 and Part 3 of 3

About the 2011 Ibrahim Index

Interactive data set for 2011 Ibrahim Index

2011 Ibrahim Index of African Governance | Summary Report

Structure of the 2011 Ibrahim Index

Poster of results for all countries in the 2011 Ibrahim Index

Central Africa Region Pack 2011

East Africa Region Pack 2011

North Africa Region Pack 2011

Southern Africa Region Pack 2011

West Africa Region Pack 2011

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation is committed to making data on governance quality in Africa freely available and accessible to all citizens of the continent and interested stakeholders. We welcome and encourage any accurate reproduction, translation and dissemination of this material. The material must be attributed to the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, but not in any way that suggests that the Foundation endorses you or your use of the material.

A Case Study of Chad, Angola, Gabon, and Sao Tome é Principe / by Karin Alexander and Stefan Gilbert; Additional writing and background research: Christine Betzing & Justin Steyn

http://us-cdn.creamermedia.co.za/assets/articles/attachments/25968_oil_and_governance_-_book.pdf

The Africa Governance, Monitoring and Advocacy Project (AfriMAP) aims to  monitor and promote compliance by African states with the requirements of good governance, democracy, human rights and the rule of law. http://www.afrimap.org/

 

In this videoclip, Ebrahim Fakir of the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa speaks to Polity's Amy Witherden about the South African government's performance since the April elections, and the appointments made by President Jacob Zuma.

http://www.polity.org.za/article/politics-and-governance-in-2009-2009-12-10

From Polity.org.za

FROM BELEM TO COPENHAGEN: CHALLENGING DOMINANT GOVERNANCE PARADIGMS
Salma Maoulidi
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/61096

The World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators research project, covers 212 countries and territories and measures six dimensions of governance between 1996 and 2008: Voice and Accountability, Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, and Control of Corruption.

Abstract: This paper reports on the 2009 update of the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) research project, covering 212 countries and territories and measuring six dimensions of governance between 1996 and 2008: Voice and Accountability, Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, and Control of Corruption. These aggregate indicators are based on hundreds of specific and disaggregated individual variables measuring various dimensions of governance, taken from 35 data sources provided by 33 different organizations. The data reflect the views on governance of public sector, private sector and NGO experts, as well as thousands of citizen and firm survey respondents worldwide. We also explicitly report the margins of error accompanying each country estimate. These reflect the inherent difficulties in measuring governance using any kind of data. We find that even after taking margins of error into account, the WGI permit meaningful cross-country comparisons as well as monitoring progress over time. The aggregate indicators, together with the disaggregated underlying indicators, are available at www.govindicators.org.

Link to full-text of report by Daniel Kaufmann, Brookings Institution
Aart Kraay and Massimo Mastruzzi, The World Bank

From Polity.org.za 

Global integrity report
The Global integrity an independent US based non profit organisation which collects and publishes information on governance and corruption levels. It compiles regular reports containing comparative data on levels of integrity in many nations worldwide. The integrity indicators are based on over 20 categories which measure levels of anti-corruption in political, legal and economic institutions in the nations concerned using field work from local representatives. They include measures of the state of civil society, the rule of law, government accountability. The website provides free acess to data from approximately the 1990s onwards, plus information on methodology and discussion of data collection techniques. From Intute.ac.uk
http://report.globalintegrity.org/

"Justice for the Poor (J4P) is an attempt by the World Bank to grapple with some of the theoretical and practical challenges of promoting justice sector reform in a number of countries in Africa (Kenya and Sierra Leone) and East Asia (Indonesia and Cambodia). J4P reflects an understanding of the need for demand-oriented, community-driven approach to justice and governance reform, which values the perspectives of the users, particularly the poor and marginalized such as women, youth and ethnic minorities..."

China Elections and Governance Center
The China Elections & Governance Website was launched in 2002 by the Carter Center and the Institute of International Comparative Political Economy of Renmin University of China. It has been maintained and updated by the Beijing Center for Policy Research since 2004. It aims to provide information on Chinese politics, political reform and elections. The website provides free access to blogs, articles and papers published by scholars relating to Chinese politics, political reform, the state of democracy in China and elections. From Intute.ac.uk
http://www.chinaelections.org/en/

The Crisis of democracy: report on the governability of democracies to the Trilateral Commission
This site provides free access to the full text of the book by Michel Crozier, Samuel P. Huntington and Joji Watanuki published by New York University Press in 1975. ISBN 2270814713645. The 227 page report to the Trilateral Commission is renown for its analysis of the state of democracy and challenges facing democratic governance in the 1970s. It includes cases studies which assess democracy in Europe, United States and Japan. From Intute.ac.uk
http://www.trilateral.org/library/crisis_of_democracy.pdf

Africa Research Institute
The Africa Research Institute is a UK based centre that aims to draw attention to ideas which have worked in Africa, supporting development and good governance. The Institute does this by organising events and producing research / policy papers on topics such as the fate of Zimbabwe after Mugabe, political turmoil in Kenya and how fertiliser subsidies work in Malawi. The website also includes links to related Internet sites, more details on the make-up and work of the Institute, plus a press room service that features links to stories about Africa abstracted from newspapers and periodicals. Intute.ac.uk
http://www.africaresearchinstitute.org/

http://www.ashinstitute.harvard.edu/

The Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation has the worthy goal to foster "creative and effective government problem-solving." The Institute uses research, education, international programs, and government innovations awards to affect such problem solving. The homepage is divided up into four sections, "Innovations in American Government," "Global Network," "Knowledge Building," and "Teaching and Training." To read some of the publications the Institute puts out, click on "Institute-Wide Publications" at the bottom of the "Knowledge Building" section. Along with the "5 Year Report" and the "2008-2009 Course Guide", "The Ash Institute Resource Guide" and "Communique: Ash Newsletter" are in PDF format here. In the "Innovations in American Government" section on the homepage, clicking on "Innovations News" will lead you to a three-part documentary that shows the presentations of the finalists for the 2008 Innovations Awards in front of the National Selection Committee. Just click on the link to "Part 1, Part 2, Part 3" at the bottom of the 2008 Innovations Winners section. It's sure to have you on pins and needles! [KMG] Scout Report

Permalink Docuticker

HotSeat podcast series: LSE Government Department This website provides free access to a collection of podcast interviews with leading members of the London School of Economics (LSE) Government Department academic staff. They offer insight into recent cutting edge research, many covering topics of British politics and international affairs Interviews are generally monthly and date from mid 2007 onwards. Some include video and audio files. Examples include comment on the resignation of Tony Blair and British relations with the EU. Technical and copyright details are displayed on the website. It is possible to sign up to receive RSS alerts when new titles are added. From Intute.ac.uk
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/government/raw/hotseat/

The Africa Governance, Monitoring and Advocacy Project (AfriMAP) aims to  monitor and promote compliance by African states with the requirements of good governance, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

http://www.afrimap.org/

Established in 2004, the Africa Governance and Advocacy Project (AfriMAP) is a project of the Open Society Institute. The Institute's overarching mission is "to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economics, legal, and social reform." As such, AfriMAP works with national civil society organizations in order to evaluate and audit areas that include the justice sector, the delivery of public services, and political participation. Their homepage offers up some of their recent findings through reports like "South Africa: Effective Delivery of Public Services" and "Ghana: Justice Sector and the Rule of Law". Users can also perform a complete search of their online materials by selecting a country and then picking a topic. Those who are interested in their methodology should read their detailed questionnaires, which are available in both French and English. Also, visitors can sign up to receive an electronic newsletter and read their latest call for research papers. [KMG] From The Scout Report

http://www.governing.com/

Published by Congressional Quarterly, Governing magazine is billed as "the resource for states and localities." It is certainly a nice resource, and public officials, administrators, and anyone with even a passing interest in the world of governance will want to bookmark this site. For the most recent news from the world of public affairs, visitors will want to browse on over to the "Today's News" section on the homepage. The sections offered here include "In the States", "The Local Scene", and "Politics". Visitors can also sign up for email updates, if they are so inclined. Along with selected articles and musings from the print edition, the "Online Specials" area brings together resources created especially for the site. One indispensable resource is the "Governing Sourcebook", which contains topical data for counties, cities and states which covers economic development, management, public safety, and so on. Finally, the "Daily Digit" feature provides insights into statistics that deal with everything from the decline in the death rate from heart disease in Minnesota to the population increase in Newark in recent years. [KMG] Scout Report

Worldwide Governance indicators 2007  project is an intiative of the World bank. It collects and aggregates data for over 200 nations using 6 measures of governance: political accountability; political stability and violence; government effectiveness; regulatory control; rule of law and extent and control of corruption. Datasets for 1996-2006 may be downloaded from the website. Also accessible are papers and reports on the methodology used to complie the statistics. There is a comprehensive directory of links to other sources of data relating to political systems.
http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi2007/ From Intute.ac.uk