Government and foodbank food security policy governance: Australia and United States COVID-19 responses

Sue Booth, Claire Pulker, Christina M. Pollard

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

The word 'governance', derived from the Greek 'kubernaein', means to 'steer' and refers to the manner of steering, directing or controlling a group of people, or organization. Governance can be complex, messy and context specific. Osborne and Gaebler (1992) make the distinction between governing (steering) and implementing operations or policy (i.e., rowing) and started debates in the 1990s about steering more and rowing less for organizational change. At its simplest, governance is a thread that ties together the quality of organizational decisions, the types of policies developed and implemented, and the degree to which desired outcomes are achieved.

The role of 'good governance' underpinning effective and efficient performance is commonly referred to in the literature but lacks an exact meaning. 'Good governance' often refers to a 'grab bag' of aspirational elements depending on the organization and setting (Hyndman and McDonnell, 2009; Greer et al., 2019a). Greer et al. (2019a) assert that the pursuit of 'good governance' in and of itself, without adapting governance concepts to specific contexts, is fruitless, and that the focus should be on how governance problems are identified and the measures to strengthen governance to empower civil society and improve health...
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHandbook of Food Security and Society
EditorsMartin Caraher, John Coveney, Mickey Chopra
Place of PublicationCheltenham, UK
PublisherEdward Elgar Publishing Ltd
Chapter20
Pages286-296
Number of pages11
ISBN (Electronic)9781800378445
ISBN (Print)9781800378438
Publication statusPublished - 10 Aug 2023

Keywords

  • Food security
  • Governance
  • COVID-19
  • Food banks

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