This chapter begins with a retrospective look at governance in community colleges based on a working understanding of governance as a correlate of decision making. In its simplest form, governance is "a process for distributing authority, power, and influence in decision making among constituencies" (Alfred and Smydra, 1985, pp. 201-202). What makes inquiry into governance important, both in earlier periods and today, is the notion of forces inside and outside of colleges and their relationship to governance. What are these forces? Why are they important? And what are their implications for governance? The objective of this chapter is to answer these questions by examining the contextual conditions that affect colleges and, by extension, shape the context for governance, including forces in the external environment, internal operating dynamics, and the imperative for growth and change.