to control and direct the making and administration of policy in (a state, organization, etc)
to control, determine, or strongly influence (something)
Availability often governs choice
to hold (something) in check
to serve as a precedent or deciding principle for (something)
said of a word: to require (another word or group of words) to be in a specified grammatical case
to prevail or rule; to exercise authority
governability noun
governable adj
[Middle English governen via Old French from Latin gubernare to steer, govern, from Greek kybernan]