Summary
Contents
Key Concepts in Governance provides a clear introduction to the technical concepts and policies of contemporary governance through short definitional essays. Each entry features a snapshot definition of the concept, a contextualization of the concept, an overview of relevant debates, and a guide to further reading. The book also includes a substantial introductory chapter which gives an overview of governance studies as a whole, orientating and guiding the reader around the issues that the concepts address.
Hierarchy
Hierarchy
Definition
The word ‘hierarchy’ is derived from two Greek words: hieros, which means sacred, and archein, which means rule or order. Early Christian writers originally used the word to refer to the order of angels. Later the word came to refer to the structure of the Christian Church itself. It described the vertical organization of the early church, which was conceived as both a divine and worldly institution. Hierarchy was the vertical organization of divine authority with local priests at the base and God at the apex.
Hierarchy now refers, similarly, to a form of organization in which people and functions are organized in, and executed through, a well-defined, multi-tiered, vertical structure. Different functional tasks are performed at each level in this structure. In spatial terms, ...