Good governance is a broad concept used by many international organizations to spell out how states or countries should be governed. Definitions vary, but there is a clear core of common public values, such as transparency, accountability, effectiveness, and the rule of law. It is quite likely, however, that national views of good governance reflect different political cultures and institutional heritages. Fourteen national codes of conduct are analyzed. The findings suggest that public values converge and that they match model codes from the United Nations and the European Council as well as conceptions of good governance from other international organizations. While values converge, they are balanced and communicated differently, and seem to some extent to be translated into the national cultures. The set of global public values derived from this analysis include public interest, regime dignity, transparency, neutrality, impartiality, effectiveness, accountability, and legality. The normative context of public administration, as expressed in codes, seems to ignore the New Public Management and Reinventing Government reform movements.O good old man, how well in thee appears The constant service of the antique world, When service sweat for duty, not for meed! Thou art not for the fashion of these times, Where none will sweat but for promotion, And having that, do choke their service up Even with the having: it is not so with thee. (Shakespeare, As You Like It, II, iii) What is good governance?As Shakespeare's Orlando expresses it, good governance entailed servants sweating for duty, not for meed or promotion. As the discussion that follows will show, modern conceptions of good governance-nationally and globally-are surprisingly close to Orlando's view despite the New Public Management (NPM) and Reinventing Government reform movements.