Good Governance

The paper focuses on regional trade agreements and economic co-operation and develops a new appropriate approach to study their impact on growth and trade. The approach is based on an endogenous trade-growth theory and novelly specified in an economic integration (expenditure) framework which is the conceptual foundation of regional trade agreements. Importantly, it also appropriately takes into account major add- and sub-factors as recommended by Johansen, the computable general equilibrium pioneer, in practical economic planning and policy modelling. Applications of the approach to China, a key member of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement group, are also reported to provide useful insights for suitable evidence-based impact analysis. The analysis has relevance to such trading blocs as BRICS and the 21-member Indian Ocean Rim Association where Iran is a key member. Policy implications from the findings are then briefly discussed.

One of the challenges of the Islamic Republic of Iran during her forty years since the 1979 revolution is the bewilderment for the realization of social justice. Although it is argued that the lack of social justice during the Pahlavi regime finally resulted in the Islamic Revolution, failure in the improvement of social justice indices after the revolution, especially after the end of the war between Iran and Iraq in 1988, has resulted in governance policies that are contrary to social justice. Given that social justice in Iran is not desirable and the current situation in Iran, forty years after the revolution, does not resemble much the ideals of the revolutionary leaders for establishing social justice, the present article, by referring to reliable data and using analytical-descriptive method, attempts to show that the governance practices in Iran have not been able to realize social justice which entails taking into consideration the successful international experiences and implementation of the good governance practices.

Introduction: Social responsibility is defined as the voluntary efforts to eliminate or minimize the negative effects of business activities on stakeholders that are done by the organizations. The aim of this article is to present a model of Islamic social responsibility with an emphasis on good governance, with an interpretative structural modeling approach in the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. Methodology: In this study, fuzzy screening technique and interpretive structural modeling (ISM), were used to identify the criteria and the relationship between the criteria. After studying the relevant literature review and interviewing with the managers of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. Findings: After analyzing the data, the variables were classified into eight different levels and were plotted according to the relations of the ISM graph. After analyzing, the variables were categorized into three groups: independent or key variables, communication variables and the dependent variables and no variables were included in the group of autonomous variables. Social responsibility in Islamic style was studied in five economic, social-political, ethical, legal, and altruism dimensions, and aspects of good governance from the scientific point of view under the five dimensions of participation, accountability, justice and equality, rule of law, and efficiency and effectiveness of the government. Conclusion: According to the results, the components of financial responsibility and economic security, attention to the benefit of society, citizens' participation, social accountability, law enforcement, equal rights, rule of law, respect for norms and values, and beliefs have high dependence and conductivity power. In the other words, the impact of these criteria is very high, and any small change on these variables causes the fundamental changes in the system.

Insurance Corporate Governance Code 93 was communicated to the insurance industry of Iran in 2017. However, as the only Iranian governmental insurance organization, Iran Insurance Company has a different corporate governance structure in the insurance industry of Iran. The present study aims to propose a good corporate governance model at Iran Insurance Company. This study is applied research in terms of objectives and descriptive-survey research based on a combined methodology in terms of data collection. Semi-structured interviews were performed with fifteen experts. The final model was proposed through thematic analysis and the Delphi model with five components, including board effectiveness, transparency and disclosure, ownership institution, beneficiary management, and monitoring. The model was examined by delivering questionnaires to a total of 201 senior and middle-level managers and agency directors at Iran Insurance Company. The Kolmogorov–Smirnov test was utilized to determine data distribution, while the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test and Bartlett’s test were used to examine measurement sample suitability. Also, the partial least square (PLS) method was employed for modeling in Smart PLS. The components were ranked through the Shannon entropy approach. The results demonstrated that board effectiveness had the largest importance among other components. The board structure and composition showed the highest weight. Among the components of board effectiveness, the separation of the chairman and CEO had the highest importance.

The new paradigm of good governance has an emphasis on international transparency, and this in this study takes into account the actual impacts of organizational intelligence in policymaker organizations. This study primarily aims to design an intelligent model of transparent governance in policymaker organizations with the approach of good governance. The study is a fundamental research in terms of objectives. In the qualitative section, data collection was done through Delphi interview questions, and the statistical population was senior managers, specialists, and policymakers with targeted sampling. In the quantitative part, the population was mid-level managers and organizational intelligence experts. The random sampling method was via the Cochran formula, and 432 individuals were selected. Data gathering tools were interviews and researcher-made survey questionnaires. The content and face validity and Cronbach alpha reliability were employed. The data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics, including factor analysis, regression, and structural equations. Model fit and Friedman test were employed. The findings indicated three dimensions in the proposed model design, including transparency, knowledge creation, and knowledge translation, along with six components, five subcomponents, and 23 indicators. The results suggested that there is a relatively strong and appropriate relationship between organizational intelligence and organizational transparency. Furthermore, sense-making had the highest correlation with organizational transparency. Also, the strongest predictor was the sense-making variable.

Purpose - At the local level, the role of rural management in achieving optimal rural planning and development goals is significant. There are several approaches to rural management, one of which is good rural governance. In this regard, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of new rural management with an emphasis on good governance indicators for the villages in the Central District of Karaj County. Design/methodology/approach - Quantitative approach was used in conducting this research. The statistical population of the study includes 7 villages. 145 households were sequentially determined based on random sampling and using the modified Cochran's formula. SPSS software and the FARAS model were utilized to analyze the data. Findings - The results showed that the situation of governance indicators in the studied villages is lower than average. In addition, the results of the correlation between the indicators of good rural governance showed that the management system is the desired and subject to development in all indicators of good rural governance from the point of view of the villagers. Also, the ranking of the indicators of good governance using the FARAS model substantiated that the social participation index has the highest rank from the experts’ point of view. Research limitations/implications - The outbreak of coronavirus interfered with the process of data collection and information in the studied villages. This impeded the process of completing the research. In this regard, to reduce the negative impact of this restriction, interviews and completing questionnaires were conducted through the Internet. Practical implications - Activities should be taken through the interaction of non-governmental organizations, governmental and public organizations, and the private sector, removing existing obstacles, and financial and executive constraints for modern rural management in the villages of the Central District. Originality/value: The study is conducted by the mentioned researchers and in accordance with the official rules and procedures, and all dissertations, articles, books, etc. were referred to accordingly. The originality of the present study is in applying the FARAS fuzzy model to the studied villages in the Central District of Karaj County.

Today, advances in science and technology have increased human power to change the environment; This situation has endangered human survival. Sustainable development is one of the solutions to solve this challenge. The emphasis of sustainable development is on intergenerational commitment and intergenerational and intergenerational justice, quality of life and participation of individuals in the development process. Since international judicial authorities play an important role in the development of international law, it is important to address the jurisprudence of these courts in the context of sustainable development and its principles. This article analyzes some of the rulings of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and states that in its decisions of the last two decades, the Court has made good use of the principles of sustainable development and revealed the normative element of the concept of sustainable development. The rulings of this court indicate the establishment of the position of these principles in the practice of this institution and its positive approach to the rights of future generations, while defending the interests of the current generation.

Purpose- since governance has a direct and close relation to democracy and socio-economic development everywhere, and it is considered to be the main discussion of the discourse of sustainable rural development, the purpose of the present study is to examine the position of governance indicators in rural areas of Abarkooh town and its impact on the villagers' higher participation.   Methodology - the present research has been conducted using a descriptive-analytical method and the data were obtained through survey methods. The statistical population of this study were rural district governors, members of Islamic councils and residents of Abarkooh town. Chi-square test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Pearson correlation coefficient and regression coefficient were used to analyze the data. Research findings- the results indicate that the villagers had the highest participation of villagers is in manpower and participation in land donation is in the second place and financial aids is in the last place due to the weak financial strength of the villagers. According to the results of the T-test, the scores of the items related to the indicators of rural governance in Abarkooh town are at a desired level and the highest values belong to social trust and social justice indicators and the lowest value belongs to rule of law indicator. The results of Wilcoxon test show that, the impact of feasibility of governance indicators on public participation in this area has been at a high level. Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis were used to examine each of the governance indicators "transparency and accountability, efficiency and effectiveness, social justice, awareness, social trust, rule of law, acceptance of participation" as independent variables on villagers' participation in the dimensions of "manpower, financial assistance, land donation, (which were aggregated) as dependent variables and determine the effect of each of these dimensions. The correlation test value equal to 0.712 shows a significant, positive and direct relationship between independent and dependent variables of the present research. The modified determination coefficient indicates that, 69.4% changes in villagers' participation level is related to feasibility of principles of governance in the study area; therefore, holding meetings for rural people, rural district governors and members of councils for more interaction and informing people about their rights, clarification of financial and income issues and identification of capabilities of human society can play an essential role in feasibility of this matter.

Introduction : Civil society can lead to good governance by relying on civil ethics and legality. Civil ethics is the core and essence of civil society. The realization of good governance as one of the development models is not possible without the participation and presence of the civil sector. In this regard, the purpose of this research is to analyze the obstacles to achieving good governance in the public sector with an emphasis on civil ethics in the city of Yazd. Material and Method s : The qualitative research method was using qualitative content analysis with an inductive approach. The participants were active activists in the public (civil) sector in Yazd. 10 interviews were conducted using the purposeful theoretical sampling method, the data collection tool was a semi-structured interview. The validity and reliability of the research data collection tools were confirmed, and the theme analysis method based on open coding was used to analyze the data. Results : The results showed that the main obstacles to not realizing good governance in the civil sector are: intra-group distrust and the challenge of becoming a circle of civil organizations, the challenge of creating tools from civil organizations and the emergence of extra-group distrust, inter-group distrust and the challenge Self-destruction, promotion of passive participation and emergence of individualistic spirit, structural inefficiency and emergence of structural problems. Strengthening the public sector and increasing social capital and civic ethics can facilitate the achievement of good governance. Conclusion : Civil ethics is one of the most important variables in the realization of good governance and can be effective in the direction of moral excellence of society and desirable perfection.

Good governance is a system of values, policies, and institutions by which governments manage society. Stability and political stability in countries require the absence of management gaps and the achievement of governance improvement and lack of fragility, which weakened and fragile governments do not have the necessary conditions for such conditions. Usually, developing countries are exposed to the gap in natural resources and brain drain, which provide the basis for important effects on governance and fragility. In this study, to investigate the effect of dependence on natural resources and brain drain on the fragility of states and good governance, the statistical data of 26 developing countries that export fuel from 2007 to 2019 were used and with the approach of SUR Model estimation has been done. The results show that the effect of natural resource rent on the fragility of states is positive and statistically significant. Also, the effect of natural resource rent on good governance is negative and significant. In other words, the effect of natural resource rent on the fragility of states and good governance has an impact coefficient of 0.03 and -0.02, respectively. Therefore, the rent of natural resources can cause governments to weaken and become more fragile in good governance indicators. Also, the effect of brain drain on the fragility of states is positive and significant, and it is negative and significant on good governance. The effect coefficient of the brain drain variable on the fragility of states and good governance is 2.05 and -0.12, respectively.

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of institutional quality on the export ofintermediate goods 3 by developing countries according to good, moderate, and bad institutionalquality conditions. The institutional variable included the World Bank’s average goodgovernance index. The estimation of the model was carried out using panel data for 1997-2021on a sample of 131 developing countries by the application of the Estimated Generalized LeastSquares (EGLS) method. The results show that the institutional quality has an impact on bilateralexports of developing countries only among the pairs of countries with similar conditions ofmoderate institutional quality. Thus, the governments of developing countries having moderategovernance conditions need to prioritize development and extensive reforms concerninginstitutional development to increase their exports of intermediate goods.JFL Classification: F14, O14, O24, Q58

This paper analyses the motivations of outward Foreign Direct Investment pattern of Vietnam using the gravity theory and panel data of 159 economies worldwide during the 2007-2021 period. The author extends the gravity model proposed by Zhang & Daly (2011) to test the determinants of Vietnam's OFDI, divided into two strategy groups namely location selection and the amount of new registered OFDI capital. Results indicate that Vietnamese OFDI’s location choice was positively impacted by high levels of political stability, export relations, and proximity to Vietnam. Meanwhile, natural resource advantages and the other good governance factors in one economy do not have statistically significant effects on the location choice, whereas Vietnamese new registered OFDI amount is negatively affected by governance effectiveness, rule of law, and regulatory quality. Relatively, among all the determinants, low regulatory quality is the most powerful factor in increasing the new registered OFDI scale. As the main practical policy implications, issuing policies for promoting trade relations, launching the novel strategy of FDI neighbourhood policy are recommended.

Corruption and administrative violations are the product of inefficient administrative system, negative bureaucracy, ineffective management system and lack of meritocracy. Different solutions have been proposed to deal with corruption. One of these solutions, which is the subject of this research, is good governance. In recent years, good governance has become an important issue in public and public sector management, and this issue is due to the important role that this type of governance plays in determining community health. The present article, which has been written using the descriptive-analytical method, in response to the question of how to prevent and reduce corruption and increase administrative health in the Islamic Republic of Iran, claims that the application of good governance principles as an efficient model by promoting and improving components such accountability, transparency, rule of law, participation, accountability, etc. can lead to the health of the administrative system and enrich the ties between the government and the nation. 

The rule of law entails that government and the laws it makes serve the public good and facilitates equal opportunities. The requirement that the state conform to the rule of law puts substantial limits on governmental power which serves to protect citizens from arbitrary action or the imposition of unjust laws. The ‘law’ referred to in the rule of law concept is thus not whatever issues from legislatures and courts, but rather ‘a particular kind of restraint on the use of force’ or arbitrary power. It is not an ‘imaginary’ used by the government towards their equally imagined ends and imposed on the people. Likewise, the rule of law is not the sole prerogative of the government but requires the commitment of its citizens to adhere to and uphold the rule of law. Therefore, in rule of law societies corruption is not prevalent and does not impinge on the daily life of the individual. The inception of the rule of law in Islamic societies arose from the fact that God’s Laws were supreme, not the laws made by any man, or group of men, whatever his/their position. Is a return to the rule of Law possible for Muslim societies?

This paper aims at studying governance and distribution of autonomies in Tehran City Islamic Council in the process of performing intra/inter-organizational functions. According to current theories on governance, there are three types of governance according to the kinde of involvement. Authority involvement, interactive involvement and persuasion involvement, in Tehran City Islamic Council in the process of forming and implementing urban regulations. On the other hand, Tehran City Islamic Council could have three kinds of autonomies to be effective: autogeny, heterogeny and discretion. Good governance model for Tehran City Islamic Council is an optimized combination of involvements and autonomies designed by polling the elites a mathematical model analysis. To study the current governance status in Tehran City Islamic Council, a questionnaire is used and the interval is estimated by single T-test. The findings indicate that in terms of involvement and autonomy, Tehran City Islamic Council has a remarkable distance from optimized governance model.