Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD candidate of political Geography, Faculty of Geography, University of Tehran.

2 Associate Professor of Political Geography, Faculty of Geography, University of Tehran

Abstract

Good governance, by providing space for participatory processes, is a good platform for strengthening civil society alongside government and the private sector in governing countries. Meanwhile, NGOs, as an important part of civil society, are trying to fill government loopholes in geographical areas. In the discussion of non-governmental organizations, we can point to their importance as one of the key players for achieving good governance in the context of promoting social capital. The present study, which is a descriptive-comparative study, compares the components of good governance (with those of accountability, transparency, accountability and rule of law) by non-governmental organizations and local governments in Iran. The sample size of the study was 296 people (157 members of NGOs and 140 members of local government) who were selected through available sampling and snowball. The results showed that the NGOs have performed better than the local government in achieving the components of good governance. The components of good governance were significantly related to the control indicators of poverty, corruption, and the elimination of discrimination and inequality, which is a great goal to be achieved through the active performance of non-governmental organizations.

Keywords

[1] Adams, W.M., Aveling, R., Brockington, D., Dickson, B., Elliott, J., Hutton, J., Roe, D., Vira, B.and Wolmer, W. (2004). Biodiversity conservation and the eradication of poverty, Science, (5699): 1146-1149.
[2] Alibabaei, E., Ghorbani, M., Marvi Modjer, M.R. and Avatefi Hemmat, M. (2015). Social monitoring: analysis and social capital in sustainable forest resources management (Case Study: Kodir village, Kojur district, Mazandaran province), Journal of Forest and Wood Product (Accepted in Persian).
[3] Amartiacumar, A (2003). Development as Freedom. Translator : Movaseghi A. University of Tehran press.
[4] Avina, J. (2013). The evolutionary life cycles if non-governmental development organizations. Journal of Public Administration and Development. 13(5): 453–474.
[5] Barakpor. N  (2013). Transition from Urban Government to Urban Sovereignty, Ph.D thesi in Urban Plannig. University of Tehran.
[6] Bodin, O. and Prell, C. (2011). Social network in natural resources management. Cambridge University Press. 560p.
[7] Bodin, Ö. And Crona, B. (2009). The role of social networks in natural resource governance: What relational patterns make a difference? Journal of Global Environmental Change, (19), 366-374.
[8] Bulte, E., Damania, R. (2008). Resources for sale: corruption, democracy and the natural resource curse. B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 35, 82-90.
[9] Ebrahimi Azarkharan, F., Ghorbani, M., Salajegheh, A. and Mohseni Saravi, M. (2014). Social network analysis of local stakeholders in action plan for water resources co-Management (Case study: Jajrood River in Latian watershed, Darbandsar village), Iran- Watershed management science Engineering, 8(25), 47-56.
[10] Edwards, M. and Hulme, D. (2019). Too close for comfort? The impact of official aid on Non-Governmental Organizations. Journal of World Development. 24(6): 91–99.
[11] Fischer, H.W. (2001). The Deconstruction of the Command-and-Control Model: A Post-modern analysis", Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Sociological Association, Helsinki.
[12] Fisman, R. and Roberta, G. (2020). Decentralization and corruption: Evidence across Countries, Journal of Public Economics, 83(3): 25–45
[13] Goodwin, M, and Painter, J. (2016). Local government, the crises of Fordism and the changing geographies of regulation, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 21(4), 635-48.
[14] Ghorbani, M. (2012). The role of social networks in operation mechanisms of Rangeland (Case Study: Taleghan area), Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of natural resources, Tehran University, 430 P.
[15] Ghorbani, M. (2014). Network analysis; modeling, policy-making and planning of natural resources co-management, University of Tehran and the Department of Forest, Rangeland and Watershed Management.
[16] Ghorbani, M., Jafarian, V., Badripour, H and Damavandi, A. A. (2016). Negotiation and mediation techniques for natural resources management (Translate to Persian).
[17] Ghorbani, M., Avazpour, L., Heydari, S. (2018). 'Appraising the structural characteristics of social capital of local beneficiaries’ network in keeping with collaborative Natural Resource Governance (Pilot: Sarayan County, South Khorasan Province)', Journal of Range and Watershed Managment, 71(1), pp. 241-252. doi: 10.22059/jrwm.2017.203990.995.
[18]  Hoseini, M., Golkarian, A. (2019). Social network analysis of local stakeholders in governance of water resources (Case study: watershed of Kharve Olya - Neyshabur city, Journal of Range and Watershed Managment, 72(3), pp. 683-698. doi10.22059/jrwm.2019.223139.1086.
[19] Imanijajarmi. H. (2009). Challenges of councils in local governance: Proceedings of the conference on local management and councils: Tehran: Secretariat of the expediency council.
[20] Leahy, E. and Anderson, H. (2008). Trust factors in community–water resources management agency relationships, Journal of landscape and urban planning, 87, 100–107.
[21] Lienert, J., Schnetzer, F., Ingold, K. (2013). Stakeholder analysis combined with social network analysis provides fine-grained insights into water infrastructure planning processes. Journal of Environmental Management, 125,148- 134
[22] Lockner, A.O. (2013). Steps to local government reform: A Guide to tailoring local government reforms to fit regional governance communities in democracies. Universe, Bloomington.
[23] Midari, A., & Khairkhahan. J. (2015). Good governance is the Foundation of Development Office of economic Studies, Research Center of the Islamic Consulative Assembly.
[24] Naderi, M. M. (2011). Good governance, introduce and cash brief. Islam va Pazhuheshhaye Modiriyati, 1(1), 69- .93.
[25] Najafi Abranabadi. A. H. (2014) An Introduction to Research in the Criminal Justice System Opportunities and Challenges. Ghazavat Journal, 52-54.
[26] Norbert, G. (2019). Civil Society and NGO: Far from Unproblematic Concepts. The ashgate research companion to non-state actors. Bob reinalda (ed.).
[27] Poorezzat, A. A  (2019). Fundamentals of knowledg of government and government. Samt Publisher.
[28] Saiedi, N., and Askari. P. (2017). International NGOs monitoring the implementation of human Rights with emphasis on Amnestty International. Public Law research. Volume 18: 53.
[29] Seber, N. and Christopherson, T. (2020). The influence of non-governmental organizations on the creation of natura 2000 during the European Policy Process. Forest policy and economics. 4(1), 1–12.
[30] Sharma, C.K. (2018). Emerging dimensions of decentralization debate in the age of globalization. Indian Journal of Federal Studies. 19(1), 47–65.
[31] Urniss, N. (2014). The practical significance of decentralization, The Journal of Politics. 36(4), 80–92.
[32] Watkins, C., Susan, S., Ann, H. and Thomas, R.  (2012). Outsourcing social transformation: development NGOs as organizations. Annual review of sociology. 38(1), 285–315.
[33] Zanini, M.T.F. and Migueles, C.P. (2013). Trust as an element of informal coordination and its relationship organizational performance, Economia, 14, 77-87.