Good governance, intended as the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country’s economic and social resources gained prominence during the late twentieth century when the State and the Public Administration were undergoing broader transformations. In spite of its ambiguity, good governance became influential and begun to be used normatively to promote transparency, accountability, and effective administration as prerequisites for growth and development. This chapter offers a theoretical and empirical overview of governance and good governance to anchor the other chapters in the volume, and also shows that both in the Philippines and Chile context-sensitive, adaptable and participatory approaches to governance reforms have been essential to structure economic and political transitions as much as elite pacts and legal continuity. They underscore that good governance erodes with ease when adequate mechanisms for public inclusion and enforcement are weak or absent, and historical legacies are not mediated by state-society relations. Finally, the edited volume as a whole highlights that good governance is at its best when grounded in countries’ political history, social structures, and institutional realities.