Towards a World Governance Assessment: Preliminary Findings from the Pilot Phase

The nature of governance has emerged as a key concern in the international community over the past ten years. However, despite the stated importance, the concept remains contested and continues to mean different things to different people. Many basic definitional and measurement challenges remain. The governance debate is also contentious because much of the agenda is set by international organizations that are viewed as reflecting the interests of some states but not others – or that conceptualize governance to reflect the mandate of their organizations.