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’Good Governance’ may be an ambiguous concept in the context of development cooperation. But it receives a meaning in practice through mechanisms of policy making and implementation. In this paper I will explore the mechanisms which gave Dutch policy on ‘Good Governance’ its specific meaning. In the first half of the nineties, the discourse was structured around the role the concept should play in the relation between donor and recipient. Rivalry between the minister of developement cooperation and foreign affairs is the most determining practice then. In the second half, it was structured around the content the concept should have. Determining mechanisms then are the rivalry between departmental units and the way in which implementation practices supported a more economical meaning of the concept rather than a political one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]