Proper governance is an important aspect as far as the development initiatives of any country are concerned. Governance is a collective term that refers to any activities that are related to the formulation, decision making, and generally overseeing the operations of a country or organization. There are various bodies and authorities that are usually tasked with the responsibility of governing and in most modern societies; governance is usually the preserve of the government.
The government can be defined as a body or collection of bodies which are tasked with various governance issues such as decision making, policy formulation, and implementation of formulated policies for the greater good of the society in general. Proper governance usually results in better economic performance and a general improvement in the social-economic statuses of the country’s citizens.
In his seminal work, Leviathan Thomas Hobbes explains the notion of government form his point of view. He explains the need for a commonwealth based upon inherent qualities of man whereby he asserts that due to man’s inherent attributes, the world would be such a chaotic place if proper governance measures are not put in place.
Hobbes notes that without proper governance structures, human beings’ actions will mostly be guided by the laws of nature which will imply that human beings will be reduced to engaging in only those activities that will them advance their courses while overlooking all other aspects of humanity. Hobbes, therefore, prescribes the need for a commonwealth to fill the governance gap and provide the much-needed governance structures.
In his work, Memoirs of the Emperor of Jahangueir, Price just like Hobbes addresses the issue of governance from a rather different but somewhat similar perspective as Hobbes. Just like Hobbes, Price also notes that diversity in humankind and the need for self-preservation as some of the major attributes of a man that necessitate a governance structure.
However, Price notes that any governance structure that aims at succeeding in providing proper governance, the people ought to take into account this diversity in all its governance initiatives. It is, therefore, important that diversity is incorporated in all governance and policy-making initiatives undertaken by the government.
The governance solutions and assertions made by these two authors are distinctly different in terms of their composition and general approach to governance. On the one hand, Hobbes prescribes a commonwealth system with the monarch as the absolute governing authority. On the other hand, Price whose work illustrates the views and assertions of Jahangueir, emphasizes on a governance authority that recognizes and respects diversity.
The reason behind the variation in the assertion made by Hobbes and Price is the variation in the nature and composition of the societies that these two theorists lived. Hobbes made these assertions while being a member of the aristocratic British Monarch system.
As much as this system recognized the need for proper governance norms of government, it did not take into great consideration the issue of diversity. On the other hand, the work of Price depicts the assertions and the ideas of Jahangueir who lived in a culturally tolerant Indian society that placed a lot of emphasis on diversity.