A World Bank-wide Governance Task Force was created in 1991 to examine issues of governance that lie within the Bank's mandate. The task force prepared a discussion paper, "Managing Development: The Governance Dimension," which was discussed at the July 16, 1991, meeting of the Board of Executive Directors and released as a working paper in August 1991. The 1992 World Bank publication "Governance and Development" was based on the work of this task force.

The 1992 publication defined governance as "the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country's economic and social resources for development." The Bank's interest in governance issues emerged out of concerns that some development projects and programs were failing to achieve the anticipated results "for reasons connected to the quality of government action."

The Governance Task Force was chaired by K. Sarwar Lateef, chief of the International Economic Relations Division of the World Bank External Affairs Department (EXTIE). The task force mainly included staff of the Operations complex, the Policy and Research complex, and the Office of the General Counsel. After the task force concluded its work in 1991, Lateef continued to work on issues of governance in 1992 and was a lead contributor to "Governance and Development."