Paper short abstract:

This paper explores public value and social solidarity as good governance, aggregation of individual interests, and reconciliation of conflicts of interest. It assesses normative requirements, policy prescription, and practical implications of pandemic response and economic social solidarity.

Paper long abstract:

Governance is the process of governing by those with the authority (legitimized power) to do so. We expect those who govern to do so in the interests of the governed, usefully providing services that can best, or perhaps only, be achieved through collective action, to provide value to the public. It is an ongoing and evolutionary process which looks to reconcile conflicting interests, through the rule of law, and introduce security for all members of a particular community. Governance is also a process through which collective good and goods are generated so that all are better off than they would be when acting individually. Good governance, therefore, implies a concern by those who govern with both the security and wellbeing of those who are governed. A further element of governance recognises the rights of those who are governed, and the obligations towards them imposed upon those who govern.

Given that the interests of different individuals and groups are often conflictual, governance involves an aggregation of individual interests to provide a comprehensive policy platform representing public value. Finally, governance revolves around the practical implementation of legitimate measures to facilitate the peaceful reconciliation of conflicting interests. The COVID-19 pandemic has made these public value governance functions and obligations harder to fulfil. The reconciliation of different understandings of public value and their aggregation into a coherent policy platform has proved particularly challenging. This paper concludes with ways in which those who govern can reconceptualize their obligations to bring about a degree of reconciliation.