Everyone Against the State: Uses and Abuses of "governance"

The term "governance", which is in common use lately, alludes to a participative modality of management as opposed to the traditional model of a centralized state. This phenomenon takes place in a context of intensified globalization and international interconnection, "debt crisis", the worsening of extreme poverty in the southern hemisphere, the rise of mafias, environmental imbalances, world insecurity and unprecedented human disasters. Along with this, a liberal attack against the welfare state prospers due to accusations of inefficiency, waste, protectionism and corruption. The World Bank demands good governance from indebted nations and justifies direct intervention in their economic and social policies. However, the so called "minimal state" usually brings about pre-existent evils: disintegration, social exclusion, endemic unemployment, increasing insecurity and lack of protection for vast sectors of the population.