With the process of governing now involving a variety of private as well as public actors, governance is becoming an increasingly complex issue. More traditional theories of conceptualizing and understanding governance are now considered unsuitable, as they are too "government-oriented" and are unable to examine the more complex, modern nature of interactions between governing actors. This is where the 'Orders of Governance' conceptualisation comes in. It breaks down governance into three different orders, first, second and meta, which "correlate to the different levels at which governance is used" and allow for a more detailed analysis of the governing process.

First-order

First-order governance is the level at which problems are identified and solutions enacted. This is done through interaction between the governing organisation and its citizens which helps identify what the problem is, who is experiencing it and what an appropriate solution may be.

Second-order

Second-order governance is the level at which the "institutional arrangements" are provided "within which first order governing takes place". Institutional arrangements can take many forms in both the public (a regulatory agency) and private (the financial market) sectors.

Metagovernance

"Metagovernance" is widely defined as the "governing of governing". It represents the established ethical principles, or 'norms', that shape and steer the entire governing process. It is important to note that there are no clearly defined settings within which metagoverning takes place, or particular persons who are responsible for it. While some believe metagoverning to be the role of the state which is assumed to want to steer actors in a particular direction, it can "potentially be exercised by any resourceful actor" who wishes to influence the governing process. Examples of this include the publishing of codes of conduct at the highest level of international government, and media focus on specific issues at the socio-cultural level. Despite their different sources, both seek to establish values in such a way that they become accepted 'norms'. The fact that 'norms' can be established at any level and can then be used to shape the governance process as whole, means metagovernance is part of the both the input and the output of the governing system.

Dimensions of governance

Based on the long standing research programme of World Bank, the Worldwide Governance Indicators captures six key dimensions of governance: 

1.   Voice and Accountability (VA)– capturing perceptions of the extent to which a country's citizens are able to participate in selecting their government, as well as freedom of expression, freedom of association, and a free media.

2.  Political Stability and Absence of Violence (PV) – capturing perceptions of the likelihood that the government will be destabilized or overthrown by unconstitutional or violent means, including politically-motivated violence and terrorism.

3.  Government Effectiveness (GE) – capturing perceptions of the quality of public services, the quality of the civil service and the degree of its independence from political pressures, the quality of policy formulation and implementation, and the credibility of the government's commitment to such policies.

4.  Regulatory Quality (RQ) – capturing perceptions of the ability of the government to formulate and implement sound policies and regulations that permit and promote private sector development.

5.  Rule of Law (RL) – capturing perceptions of the extent to which agents have confidence in and abide by the rules of society, and in particular the quality of contract enforcement, property rights, the police, and the courts, as well as the likelihood of crime and violence.

6.  Control of Corruption (CC) – capturing perceptions of the extent to which public power is exercised for private gain, including both petty and grand forms of corruption, as well as "capture" of the state by elites and private interests.

There are various aspects of governance like good governance, E-Governance, corporate governance, global governance, local governance, regulatory governance etc.