But the agencies are also paying significant attention to broader corporate governance issues, including internal controls and internal audit. Corporate governance is more than effective risk management. Corporate governance is the framework by which the different constituencies within an institution--owners, management, and staff-interact with each other to make sure that any actions taken are in the best interests of the corporation and its shareholders.
To avoid the trap of being over-influenced by the present, a broader framework for assessing EMU is needed. To this end, I would like to draw on a framework put forward by French historian Fernand Braudel. In his seminal study of the development of social structures in Europe, Braudel identified three levels of time which are necessary to understand historical change.