Compendium of Basic United Nations Terminology in Governance and Public Administration

Resource Date: 18 January 2008

Content Type: Publication

Region: Global

Thematic Area: Governance and Public Institutions

Contributor: UN DESA/DPIDG

Resource Language: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish

At its sixth session, the Committee of Experts on Public Administration expressed appreciation to the Chair and the members of the working group on basic United Nations terminology in governance and public administration for its preliminary report and for proposing options for developing a glossary, its nature, structure and content, as well as an annex containing some of the terms to be included. It also welcomed the support of the Terminology and Reference Section of the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management, stating that the glossary was a very important initiative which would remain the legacy of the Committee and could be completed before the expiration of its mandate in 2009.

The Committee agreed that, with the support of the Secretariat, it would finalize the list of terms to be presented at its forthcoming session, which would serve as a basis for subsequent work. Working with various United Nations offices, the Secretariat checked the preliminary list presented by the working group at the fifth session of the Committee against terms commonly used in United Nations official documents and resolutions. This paper also offers a framework for discussion on how to proceed in defining the selected terms in the glossary by providing internationally recognized definitions for three commonly used terms, i.e., e-government, globalization and governance.