Education
Teaching Good Governance In The Pacific
USP to introduce course this year
Poor governance and unethical behaviour prevailing in the region is not so much because islanders are more corrupt and greedy than others. It is more to do with inappropriate institutions and wrong incentive structures.
That is the belief of Professor Ron Duncan, executive director of the University of the South Pacific's newly established Pacific Institute of Advanced Studies in Development and Governance. And it is this belief that is driving the institute's post-diploma, master's and doctorate programme studies on governance. The regional university through the urging of the late Savenaca Siwatibau, who until his death of cancer in New Zealand last October was the USP's vice chancellor, established the institute out of concern for the seeming dearth of good leadership and governance in the South Pacific.
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"I believe that much of the poor governance that is evident in the Pacific is the result of inappropriate institutions," says Professor Duncan. "Much of the research that I anticipate the new Pacific Institute of Advanced Studies in Development and Governance will be undertaking will be concerned with seeing how the important institutions (such as constitutions, electoral systems, governments, administrations, etc) can be improved so that they lead to more effective governance and improved economic and social development.
"You can see that I don't see the need to focus so much on individuals as on the institutions within which they operate." Duncan agrees that most people tend to behave ethically manner. The course will help students recognise what is ethical and what is not since people respond to incentives, a wrong incentive structure could breed unethical behaviour and corruption.
"If the incentives create the possibility of high rewards for unethical behaviour, then we must expect that a certain proportion of people will respond in that way. "Possibly, the more unethical people will be drawn to these kinds of activities. But poor governance is not only about corrupt or unethical behaviour.
"It is also about incentive structures that lead to inefficient or ineffective behaviour."
How then is good governance taught in the classrooms?
"Broadly, I teach them about the concept of "institutions" and the behavioural incentives they create. I also like to teach them how to design better institutions and how to overcome obstacles to the establishment of improved institutions.
"I am an economist, so my focus is largely on the economic aspects of institutions. But I recognise that many other academic disciplines have something useful to say about the design, implementation, and operation of institutions.
"So there will be other academic staff in the institute with expertise in these other areas. As well, it is an important function of the new institute to draw on other academic areas of USP (and elsewhere in the region) for partnerships in research and training in good governance."
Apart from the post-graduate training it offers, the institute will also have a very strong research focus, as well as an emphasis on the provision of technical assistance to governments and public education through workshops, conferences, and public lectures. Presently, the institute has post-graduate training programmes in Development Studies and Governance, as well as research programmes in Pacific Studies and Employment and Labour Market Studies.
Duncan said that in the governance post-graduate diploma and master's degrees, the courses offered will range across the various disciplines that are seen to be important to having students graduate with a good understanding of how the various societal institutions function and how they may be improved. Students will also be trained in skill areas where it is clear that there is a need for expertise to provide good governance.
The new institute has taken over the post-graduate diploma in governance delivered through the history and politics department of USP and its MA equivalent should come online this year. A professor of governance and other academic staff should be at work by that time as well.
