The one-sentence truth: Good governance is not simply government doing more; it is power exercised competently, legitimately and under mechanisms of accountability.
Core vocabulary
Governance, accountability, legitimacy, transparency, mandate, discretion, oversight, regulation, compliance, public trust.
Government versus governance
Government refers to formal state institutions; governance includes the wider processes through which rules are made, implemented, monitored and contested.
Accountability
Accountability requires both explanation and consequence. Transparency can reveal decisions, but without the ability to scrutinise or correct them, transparency alone is insufficient.
Legitimacy
Legitimacy concerns whether authority is accepted as justified by law, process, performance or principle. A policy can be legal yet face a legitimacy problem.
Discretion
Officials often need discretion because rules cannot anticipate every case. The trade-off is between flexibility and the risk of arbitrary or inconsistent decisions.
Oversight
Oversight can be judicial, legislative, administrative, professional or public. Its purpose is not simply to obstruct action but to reduce unchecked error and abuse.
Example sentence
“Regulatory discretion can improve responsiveness where circumstances vary, but its legitimacy depends on transparent criteria and credible avenues of review.”
Singapore application
Singapore offers useful material for examining administrative capacity, policy coordination, public trust, regulation and accountability. Strong analysis separates performance from process rather than assuming they are the same criterion.
Continue the JC2 GP vocabulary system
Return to General Paper Vocabulary Year 2 (JC2) and Vocabulary for Junior College (JC1–JC2).
Final thought
Governance becomes mature when the question changes from “Can power act?” to “Under what rules should power act, and who can challenge it?”