| dc.description.abstract | Broadly speaking, governance can be perceived to refer to the competent
management of public affairs in a government. Governance therefore is the act of
governing. It relates to decisions that define expectations, grant power or verify
performance. It consists of either a separate process or part of management or
leadership processes. These processes and systems are typically administered by a
government. On the other hand ethics is mainly held as a characteristic way of life
of some people. Ethics generally prescribes what ought to be done in a given social
system, a prescription that always reflects a characteristic and acceptable way of
behaviour of some group. It is therefore a set of standards that society places on
itself and which helps guide behaviour, choices and actions with an envisaged goal
in view. Ethics and governance is a very important area of study in today’s world
where governance poses a great challenge to many states. It is also an area that
provides its candidates with the analytical and decision-making skills and
knowledge to identify and resolve professional and ethical issues. The skills and
knowledge obtained are also important for segments that specialise in the
functional disciplines. Many governments have struggled to achieve good
governance, and especially free from corruption. Corruption is an important
manifestation of the failure of ethics. The word ‘corrupt’ is derived from the Latin
word corruptus, meaning ‘to break or destroy’. This hence implies lack of
appropriate governance. However, good governance is not necessarily ethical. The
main objective of this paper is therefore to inquire into whether it is possible to
come up with the objective ethic of governance. This paper shall adopt
philosophical methods of inquiry, and especially the Socratic critical method. This
is a method of persistent inquiry by constant question of any nature until one finds
reasonableness in a question at stake. The main hypothesis of this paper is that the
competent management of public affairs need not occur only in popular and
preferred forms of government like democratic governments, but also in other
forms of governments. | en_US |
