Debating Governance: Authority, Steering, and Democracy. Edited by Jon Pierre. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. 251p. $60.00 cloth, $24.95 paper.

Extract

If you remain befuddled, perplexed, or even a bit hazy about why scholars have shifted in the last decade from talking about “government” to talking about “governance,” this is the volume for you. Debating Governance, edited by Jon Pierre, brings together a diverse group of scholars to analyze the meaning and value of this concept within their respective subfields. The title of the volume may, however, be ambiguous. These scholars are not debating the meaning and value of the term governance among themselves. The contributors to the volume generally agree that governance is a useful and valuable concept. Despite differences in emphasis, perspective, and language, the authors generally agree about why we must shift from talking about “government” to talking about “governance.” The debate, if there is one, is with those who would deny or ignore fundamental changes in the way in which we govern ourselves over the last several decades.