ABSTRACT
There has been discussion for at least twenty-five years about the precise meaning of governance when considered in relation to the public sector (Kooiman and van Vliet 1993; Frederickson 2004). This book is primarily concerned with government actions and how government strategies and actions can create positive consequences (economic, social, and environmental) for countries. We provide an overview here of the historical context that we hope will provide the best possible basis for the definition of public governance, because, in a sense, it is a definition provided, then, on an experiential basis. The history provides a possibly valuable input to the more tacit aspects of the definition of public governance.
