ABSTRACT
Part One examines the dimensions of governance in the widest perspective. The recent transformation of European corporate governance is part of a wider restructuring of governance arrangements universally. This has encompassed changes in both the private and public sectors at local, regional, national and international levels. A replacement of traditional governance institutions by new forms of governance has transformed the management and control of social and economic institutions at every level. The structures of governance, processes of decision-making, and forms of accountability have all been subject to extensive reformulation in the interests of adapting to new social and economic demands. In this broad conception governance involves a “system of rule, as the purposive activities of any collectivity, that sustain mechanisms designed to ensure its safety, prosperity, coherence, stability and continuance” (Rosenau 2000:171).
