1) Introduction Towards better governance: Theoretical perspective -- 2.Improving governance: lesson learnt for Future Challenges -- 3.Towards Good Governance: A Socio-Institutional Perspective -- 4.Failed States and the lack of Good Governance -- 5.Governance and multilateral organizations in times of neo-liberalism: From Rawls and Hayek inspirations to post-Schumpeter innovations. -- 6.Does Corruption Matter for Citizen’s Trust in Public Institutions? Lessons from South Asia Local governance: Issue of accountability and service delivery. -- 7. Bangladesh Local government and Development in Bangladesh: Lesson Learned and Challenges for Improving Service Delivery of Union Parishad -- 8.NGO Accountability status in Nepal. -- 9. “Health Service Decentralization in Nepal: Achievements and Challenges” -- 10. E-government policy Implementation in Brunei: Lesson Learnt from Singapore -- 11.Women’s Political Participation in Bangladesh: Role of Political Parties -- 12.Governance: collaboration or Opposition? A comparative Study of Two Governance NGO relation Cases in Kunming, China -- 13.Relationship between Administrative Reforms and Political Will: A Case of the Application of Performance Based Incentive in the Nepalese Civil Service -- 14.New Age of South-South Development Cooperation: A Case Study of Nepal -- 15.Endemic Corruption and Progress towards MDGs in South Asia -- 16.Poverty Reduction in Nepal: sustainability of Achievements -- 17.Malpractices in Public Distribution System:  Administrative or Political Factors -- 18.Revisiting Anticorruption Approach in the Developing Countries -- 19.Conclusion .

The pursuit for better governance has assumed center stage in developmental discourse as well as reform initiatives of all organizations working for the public welfare, and includes such issues as service delivery and responding to citizens’ needs and demands. In the era of globalization, multilevel and new modes of governance are changing the traditional governance models of nation states, accelerated by technological innovation, rising citizen expectation, policy intervention from international and multilateral donor communities, and the hegemony of western ideology imposed on many developing nations. However, a universally accepted and agreed upon definition of 'governance’ still remains elusive. There is no consensus or agreement as to what would be the nature and form of governance and public administration. The question that is raised: Is there a universal governance mechanism that fits in all contexts or governance mechanisms should be based on home grown ideas?One can see various programs and policies of reforms and reorganizations in public administration in the developing countries, but these efforts have not been effective to address the challenging issues of economic development, employment generation, poverty reduction, ensuring equality of access to public services, maintaining fairness and equity, security and safety of citizens, social cohesion, democratic institution building, ensuring broader participation in the decision making process, and improving the quality of life. Therefore, there is a widespread concern for better governance or sound governance to bridge the gap between theory and practice, making this book of interest to academics as well as policy-makers in global public administration.