Governance within the framework of a society is the set of actions supported by common ideals and objectives from normal civilians and institutions. To give birth to their joint effort or dissolve conflicts, there is usually no need for official approval. The most common characteristics of governance are:
Reality is made by normal people: You have heard about bureaucracy within which only the influential elite people such as the president, other politicians, corporations and director of a public agency have more control over a policy. Governance is a complete transition from this. It is based on the view that reality is built by normal humans and mainly by those who are affected by a given problem. Similarly, the solution can be found by their collective effort.
Temporary Relationship: This has to do with different actors coming from private, public and even nonprofit entities for a limited amount of time. Together they influence a policy or solve a public problem in such a way that it ends up being helpful to all in the society.
Discussion: Governance requires all actors to discuss how a problem is affecting them. The aim here is to establish a common psychological relationship in the form of subjectivity. Another word for this relationship is inter-subjectivity.
Respect for diverse values: Values always differ. However, through discussions, governance, allows them to bring about the good in the society. In a way, the program or policy derived through this process is usually the reflection of what people feel.
Democratic: Any discussion opened up must be able to produce effort from all the affected parties. Of course, all others who have nothing to do with the problem can also join.
Obstacles to Governance
It can be quite difficult to achieve governance in a society. The reasons behind this are:
Silent community: Not all communities are vocal about their problems. While some have extremely busy people, others have the passive ones.
Value for taxes paid: Through taxes, the salary of public servants, programs and even policies are funded. Such a factor can make many feel that they are already helping. Also why should they be active in the policy making process when someone has been already paid to do so?
Majority is not always right: The American founding fathers had a reason to fear the idea of giving power to people. Something seen as a problem by the majority may not be a real problem. Similarly, ideals can be driven by hate and less education. Moreover, people do not always have common sense. Such factors can create solutions detrimental to minorities and even the entire nation.
Public servants themselves may not let go of their power: It is not easy to get rid of bureaucracy. It is likely for them to feel intervention of public as annoyance to their daily work. They may not just like being pushed and questioned.
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