Governance: What Do We Know, and How Do We Know It? Francis Fukuyama Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305; email: f.fukuyama@stanford.edu Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci. 2016. 19:89–105 First published online as a Review in Advance on December 21, 2015 The Annual Review of Political Science is online at polisci.annualreviews.org This article’s doi: 10.1146/annurev-polisci-042214-044240 Copyright c  2016 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved Keywords transnational cooperation, networks, public administration, nongovernmental organization (NGO) Abstract The term governance does not have a settled definition today, and it has at least three main meanings. The first is international cooperation through nonsovereign bodies outside the state system. This concept grew out of the literature on globalization and argued that territorial sovereignty was giving way to more informal types of horizontal cooperation, as well as to supra- national bodies such as the European Union. The second meaning treated governance as a synonym for public administration, that is, effective im- plementation of state policy. Interest in this topic was driven by awareness that global poverty was rooted in corruption and weak state capacity. The third meaning of governance was the regulation of social behavior through networks and other nonhierarchical mechanisms. The first and third of these strands of thought downplay traditional state authority and favor new transnational or civil society actors. These trends, however, raise troubling questions about transparency and accountability in the workings of modern government. 89 Click here to view this article's online features: • Download figures as PPT slides • Navigate linked references • Download citations • Explore related articles • Search keywords ANNUAL REVIEWS Further Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci. 2016.19:89-105. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org Access provided by 3.237.31.31 on 01/25/22. For personal use only.