The Quality of Government in a Comparative Perspective

The course addresses problems related to the quality of governance (QoG) and corruption in a comparative perspective. Today, there is consensus among social science researchers about the importance of high-quality government for economic and democratic development as well as for social and environmental sustainability. Government organisations that are trustworthy, reliable, impartial, uncorrupted and competent are currently seen as one of the most important factors of human well-being.

Corruption is seen as having detrimental effects on economic growth, the public goods provision, the democratic processes and trust among citizens. The quality of governance is not a problem for developing countries only, but exists also in economically developed democracies where trust in government institutions and the sustainability of welfare programs has been questioned. The central issues that we address in the course are: What is QoG? How can QoG be defined and measured? What explains the great variation between the countries in QoG? What do you get from high QoG and what are the mechanisms that give high/low QoG?