Reflexions on New Forms of Governance

No. 4, Chr. Daoussi, “Reflexions on New Forms of Governance”

Christina Daoussi, Associate Professor of Local Self-Government and Sociology (The Higher Institute for Technological Edu­cation of Kalamata, School of Management and Economics, Dpt. of Local Gov­ernment), examines in this paper the new forms of governance. The notion of governance can be broadly defined as an approach within which various “interested parties” are actively engaged in the formulation of decisions. This concept, today at the very centre of reflexion on democ­ratic governance of the contemporary society, appears to be very widely used in definitions of public policy and sustainable development projects of the territory in national, European and international institutions. In the case of the European Union, the coexistence and involvement of several levels of territorial governance constitute obviously major challenges for its own and European societies’ future. Finally, this multi-level social co-operation between public agencies and civil society presents a strong socio-political interest through the renewal of the Weberian concept of “social relation” as organised “social action”.