GOOD GOVERNANCE AND HOW TO ACHIEVE IT: A CASE STUDY IN ROMANIA.

Good governance and the quality of public administration is a key aspect in ensuring a country's long-term competitiveness and well-being. In 2001, the European Commission underlined in its "White paper on Governance" that five principles combine to form the basis of good governance: openness, participation, accountability, effectiveness and coherence. Europe 2020 strategy emphasizes that to achieve transformational change towards a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth it is required a strong governance framework that harnesses the instruments at EU's disposal to ensure timely and effective implementation. The purpose of our research was to identify how ordinary citizens perceive the current governance in Romania and how they understand the concept of good governance in terms of its characteristics, challenges and impact upon national security. We also sought to find out citizens' opinions and recommendations regarding these issues. To achieve our goals we implemented a survey in January-June 2015 in the Southern part of Romania (Muntenia region). We designed and applied a sociological questionnaire on 200 interviewees. Based on survey results and findings, the paper argues that at the level of ordinary citizens good governance is perceived through the quality of public services, the state's ability of ensuring national security and the state's efficiency at economic, political and administrative level. The analysis also reveals the role of democracy and political institutions in ensuring good governance. A set of recommendations from interviewees on how to improve good governance are equally presented in the final part of the paper. The findings of this survey could be further used to develop tools and actions to ensure governance improvement and efficiency increase in the sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]