European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

EUROPE, FROM THE INSTITUTIONAL REFERENT THE PERSONAL REFERENT: ... 77subsidiarity, the enlargement of the Third sector, the evolution ofvoluntary enlistment and on the sources of contribution of personalservices.Governance, or better yet, good governance, should be groundedon a secure, flexible, transparent and competent framework; composedof a legitimised worldwide government and a responsible and committedcivil society, acting not in its own interests, but rather in those of thecommon Good, of collective interests. A great deal has been written ona certain coincidence between social good and personal good with theconviction that if the opposition is exaggerated, personal good, whichwe are accustomed to seeing as separate with its own conditions andprecise rules, will end up on the losing end.It is necessary to revitalize public institutions that know how torecognize and to legitimate other spaces of confrontation and decisionmaking. If a centralized role is conserved, it must be to safeguard thecoherence of local policies with global guidelines in defence of humanrights and for the recognition of each one’s obligations.In today’s society, we are witnessing too often the predominance ofbipolar logic, conflicts and competitions where there is a clear winnerand loser.In a logic of governance 9 it is necessary to engage in the politics ofcollaboration, cooperation, mediation and the negotiation of conflictinginterests.This does not mean lowering commitments and renouncing ethicalcriterion of choice, but it does mean creating a table of dialogue forparticipatory policy management and recognizing wide-rangingauthority, quality leadership founded on competences and an encounterbetween different entities. In the past few years, we have learned tofine tune the techniques and styles of the art of negotiating, whichmight be a good reference point in the partnership between differentforces.One can speak of Good governance at various levels of organizationalcomplexity: micro, middle and macro. The dynamics and assumptions9There are diverse interpretations of good governance ranging from the Egovernment proposed by the Italian Government for public administrations ofdeveloping countries to grass-roots proposals raised for non-hierarchical co-partnershipin government politics (Charter of the New Municipality drawn up in Porto Alegre inBrazil). Behind the interpretative framework pursued, one discovers cultural paradigmswith different reference points ranging from prêt-á-porter solutions or keys in the handsof expert statisticians, to work hypotheses and praxis that mature en a constant relationbetween giver and receiver, donor and donee, in the framework of a relationship ofreciprocity and equal opportunity.