Good governance practices by local administration in jordan and USA

Practicing good governance is a way of strengthening democracy. Good governance from citizens’ perspective means to receive quality public services by democratic means. The aim of this article is to explore how citizens evaluate the performance of local administration in providing them with basic services, and whether Jordanians and Americans perceive good governance practices differently. To this end, a random sample of 790 residents in 10 municipalities is surveyed during 2005 and 2006. Using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) reveals that the Jordanians and Americans have different opinions about good governance. Findings suggest that the Jordanians evaluate the overall performance of local administration more favourably than the Americans. However, there are differences in citizens’ evaluation of the itemized services delivered to them as well as in the way good governance is maintained in Jordan and the United States of America (USA). Finally, citizens in both countries report unfavourable evaluation of governments’ performance in handling financial matters and in the ability of local officials to fulfil their campaign promises.