The Power of Secrecy and the Secrecy of Power: FACA and the National Energy Policy Development Group

One of President George W. Bush's first official acts was to charter an advisory committee that would make recommendations for a new American energy policy. While the National Energy Policy Development Group was officially made up only of government employees, journalists and watchdogs suspected that the committee was inappropriately meeting with representatives of energy firms. Two citizens' groups brought suit under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) to unveil the secrecy surrounding the National Energy Policy Development Group and its policymaking processes. The ensuing court battle revealed the weaknesses of FACA and its paradoxical use by the Bush Administration in continuing the very same government secrecy that the act is intended to prevent. This article examines a particular case of secrecy in the Bush Administration—the formulation of energy policy by Dick Cheney's energy task force—with an analysis of the known activities of the group and the history of citizen challenges to its secrecy. The article then considers the effectiveness, or ineffectiveness, of the Federal Advisory Committee Act as a safeguard against government secrecy.     

对社会管理新格局中“政府负责”的认识与理解

党的十七大报告提出要健全党委领导、政府负责、社会协同、公众参与的社会管理格局。本文通过对政府负责的表述进行分析后认为,将政府负责理解为政府主导,主体负责更恰当,并从政府主导,主体负责符合权责一致的行政组织原则等方面进行了分析论证。     

The Executive Committee of the Local Soviet of People's DeputiesI. F. Butko,ed. (Kiev: Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, 1980), 328 pp. A Review.

The interest of this monograph lies in the fact that it sets forth and resolves extremely important problems in the development of the soviets: the place of the executive committee in the system of the local soviet; theoretical and methodological questions of the scientific organization of labor in the executive committees; improving legal regulation of the auxiliary apparatus of the executive committee and the organization and activity of sections and departments; labor relations of employees of the executive committee apparatus; improving work with information, the forms and methods of administrative activity, and the style of work of the apparatus; the theory and practice of introducing the scientific recommendations of scholarship on law and government into the work of executive committees, and so forth.     

Damming the sleaze: The new code of conduct and the outside interests of MPs in the British House of commons

The Nolan Committee on Standards of Conduct in Public Life was established in October 1994 and issued its first report in May 1995. Among its recommendations was that a code of conduct should be established for British MPs, enforced by the House of Commons, with the advice of a Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. These recommendations were accepted and a Code of Conduct was subsequently approved by the House. The Code and its accompanying Guidelines have important implications for the working practices of MPs, especially in relations to their outside interests. On what grounds can paid outside interests be justified? How much is it a question of keeping in touch with the ‘real world'? How much is it a question of a necessary supplement to the parliamentary salary?     

试论我国市场与政府在资源配置中的相互关系

党的十八届三中全会《中共中央关于全面深化改革若干重大问题的决定》提出经济体制改革的核心问题是处理好政府和市场的关系,使市场在资源配置中起决定性作用和更好发挥政府作用。本文认为要处理好政府与市场的关系,就必须要尊重市场规律,在此基础上转变政府职能,实现市场作用与政府作用的有机协调和配合,这样,才能在资源配置中发挥好市场与政府两方面的作用,实现新一轮经济改革的目标,为全面建成小康社会、实现中华民族伟大复兴提供体制条件。     

浅谈政府在生态文明建设中的责任与作用

在社会主义经济建设初期,我国粗放型的发展方式对生态环境造成了一定程度的破坏。目前,我国正面临资源短缺、环境污染等一系列问题。生态文明建设是党的十七大提出的一项新要求,党的十八大报告首次把生态文明建设列入建设中国特色社会主义＂五位一体＂的总布局之中,党的十八届四中全会的召开,依法治国方略的全面实施,必将对生态环境建设提出更高的要求。本文认为,要改变经济社会发展对生态环境造成破坏的局面,政府作为公共利益的代表,其责任不可推卸,作用不可忽视。     

Does the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Engage in “Trial by Media”?*

In recent years, heated debate has arisen concerning the media practices of Australia's competition and consumer regulator (“the ACCC”), with a number of industry leaders asserting that the ACCC engages in “trial by media.” The public disquiet surrounding the ACCC's use of the media was so significant that the Australian Parliament established an independent committee of inquiry (“the Dawson Inquiry”) to investigate (amongst other things) whether Australian competition legislation “provides adequate protection for the commercial affairs and reputation of individuals and corporations.” In its report, the Dawson Inquiry observed that widespread misgivings about the ACCC's media practices had emerged from the submissions that it had received. In its recommendations to the Australian Parliament, the Dawson Inquiry recommended that the ACCC should develop a media code of conduct to govern its use of the media, particularly in relation to enforcement proceedings. In making these recommendations, the Dawson Inquiry drew from a hitherto unpublished research study conducted in 2002 that sought to identify the extent to which the ACCC engages in “trial by media.” This article documents the design, methodological bases, and findings of that study in order to facilitate broader dissemination of the research findings upon which the Dawson Inquiry's policy recommendations concerning the ACCC's use of the media were based.     

Legislation Under Review: An Assessment of Post-Legislative Scrutiny Recommendations in the UK Parliament

Post-legislative scrutiny allows Parliament to revisit legislation after it has been enacted to ensure that it is operating as intended. As most literature on the UK legislative process suggests that is not optimal, this is an important task that committees can undertake to ensure that any problems can be located and rectified. This paper reports the findings of a systematic study of the outcomes of post-legislative scrutiny in terms of the types of recommendations being made, whether they are being accepted by the government, and what factors impact upon the acceptance of those recommendations. It concludes that there is a bias in the legislation being selected to receive post-legislative scrutiny and that committees, on the whole, are producing weaker recommendations which are more likely to be accepted. Additionally, it concludes that the stronger the action that a recommendation calls for, the more likely it is to be rejected.     

推进政府治理能力现代化研究

本文以推进国家治理体系和治理能力现代化的总目标为研究背景,阐述了政府治理能力现代化的内涵和特征,分析了推进政府治理能力现代化的作用,探索了推进政府治理能力现代化的主要途径.     

Government Companies as Regulators

In 2016 the government established a new sectoral regulator, with power to grant and withdraw licences, set performance standards, and impose sanctions, not as a statutory authority but in the form of a company wholly owned by the Secretary of State: the Oil and Gas Authority.  This article critically examines this and other uses in the UK of government‐owned or ‐ controlled companies to discharge public regulatory functions, against the background of current government practice regarding arm's length public bodies in general and government companies in particular. It assesses the acceptability of the company form by reference to criteria of democratic control, independence and accountability of regulatory institutions.     

Divided We Quarrel: The Politics of Congressional Investigations, 1947–2004

Are congressional committee investigations into alleged executive‐branch wrongdoing more common during periods of divided government? We analyze original data tracking congressional committee investigations into alleged fraud, waste, and abuse by the executive branch between 1947 and 2004. Countering David Mayhew's (1991) empirical finding, we show that divided government generates more and more‐intensive congressional investigations, but this relationship is contingent on partisan and temporal factors. Our findings shed new light on the shifting dynamic between partisan institutional politics and congressional oversight.     

Seen but Not Heard: Committee Visibility and Institutional Change in the Senate National Security Committees, 1947–2006

Scholars have neglected the effect of the press on political institutions in favor of media influences on campaigns or on voters' trust and information about government. This article examines senators' committee preferences in response to declining media coverage of Congress, focusing on the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees from 1947 to 2006. The research relies on new, continuous measures of committee desirability and a unique dataset of congressional press coverage. Although both committees' visibility and attractiveness have declined dramatically over 60 years, statistical analyses indicate that change in internal rules and external events are the most important influences on senators' investment in committee careers.     

The Lockhart Committee: developing policy through commitment to moral values, community and democratic processes

The Lockhart Committee was appointed by the federal government in 2005 to review the Prohibition of Human Cloning Act 2002 (Cth) and the Research Involving Human Embryos Act 2002 (Cth). The issues in the review are ones on which community views differ widely and many people hold strong and diverging opinions. Yet all members of the committee were able to agree on their recommendations when the committee reported to Parliament in December 2005 and since that time, most of its recommendations have been implemented in amendments to federal and State legislation. This article describes the committee's process in considering the issues in the review, in consulting stakeholders and the broader community and in formulating its recommendations.     

Abortion Approval as a Ritual of Symbolic Control

The variability of abortion laws and particularly, of the mechanisms employed to implement them attests to the sociocultural specificity of the concrete solutions to the universal problem of reproductive control. The present study examines the implementing mechanisms of the abortion law in Israel, which is a medical committee. Based on interviews with 29 social workers (all women) who serve on the committees, this paper examines how the committees operate. At one and the same time it describes the "control culture" which emerges within the legal procedure; that is, the mechanism's structure, language, accepted discourses and rituals. Foucault's concepts of power/knowledge were found to be most enlightening in this context of regulating abortions. The analysis of the abortion approval procedures portray characteristics of a ritual. A ritual that is analogous to a juvenile court on the one hand, threatening but not really punishing, and on the other hand, a confessional situation in which the woman has to confess her normative wayward behavior such as extra-marital relations, not using contraception, and enjoying sex with no reproductive intentions. The reinforcement of normative attitudes toward women and especially toward motherhood is manifested in the expressions used by the committee members referring to the pregnant woman's future behavior and the expectations from her to abide by them. These two ritualistic facets are central components of symbolic control which the Israeli "reproductive deviant" woman is faced with.     

外资收购企业国有股的法律问题

外资收购我国地方企业国有股已在一些地方出现 ,这是“国有股减持”一种广义的尝试。这种收购有一些问题需要研究 ,包括这类收购的具体法律依据 ;商业市场上的自愿与合意在社会公平性方面是否具有合理性 ;这种收购中是否具有潜在管理层收购 ;这种收购对地方就业问题有何影响 ;政府对此种收购有何行政职责。     

建设我国地方政府绩效管理制度的几点思考

在西方新公共管理运动的冲击下,我国政府绩效管理问题也开始引起理论界和实务界的重视。随着上世纪90年代以来的目标责任制、干部考核等评估办法的推行,绩效管理的理念已逐渐深入到我国各级政府部门的管理实践中,绩效管理制度的建设已经成为我国政府行政管理创新的重要内容。本文以地方政府绩效管理制度的系统性建设为切入点,对其完善提出相关的建议。     

The Hidden Legacy of Scott: Weapons of Mass Destruction and the UK Government Proposals to Control the Transfer of Technology by Intangible Means

One tangible legacy of the Scott Report was to focus concern on the control of the transfer of sensitive technology by electronic means. In response to recommendations made in the Report the Government established a Scott Inquiry Follow Up Unit within the Department of Trade and Industry and published a Consultation Green Paper and White Paper. A particular concern has focused on the transfer of military and dual use technology which can be controlled (arguably) in a tangible form but not if transmitted by intangible means, i.e. fax, internet, e-mail, orally. Consideration has been given to the relationship between export controls for military and dual use goods and a parallel control regime for associated intangible technology. The Government proposal is to introduce a general power to control the transfer of technology by intangible means - limited 'for the time being' to weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and delivery systems). On the 10 November 1998 the Trade and Industry Committee held a second inquiry into various aspects of strategic export controls. Having considered representations made by the arms industry, universities, arms control groups and government departments the Committee, agreeing with an observation in the White Paper, states that 'grave doubts' existed concerning the practicality of controlling the transfer of technology by intangible means. This paper considers the relationship between tangible and intangible technology as it relates to weapons of mass destruction and offers a critique of the Government's proposals. The arguments are placed into a wider debate concerned with technology, modern warfare and the arms trade.     

法治政府建设的程序主义进路

中国当前的法治政府建设进路存在重内部机制、轻外部机制，重实体权限设定机制、轻程序规范机制，重事后救济和追责机制、轻过程规范机制的结构性缺陷，难以对在国家权力结构、国家权力与公民权利结构中都过于强大的行政权形成有效的规范制约。行政程序作为来自外部的、规范行政权行使过程的规范机制，具有防止行政权滥用的消极控权功能和助推行政权积极行使的公共意志形成功能，中国未来的法治政府建设重心应当转向行政程序机制的完善。当前的分散单行行政程序立法模式存在诸多问题，难以满足法治政府建设进路转型的需要，应当在总结地方法治政府建设程序主义进路探索经验的基础上，尽快从分散立法走向统一立法，尽早制定规范行政权的行政程序法典，确立并实现公民知情权、参与权的制度化，在利益多元化的社会条件下保障社会转型的顺利实现。     

新农村建设中乡镇政府依法行政问题的调查与思考——以福建省龙岩市为例

乡镇政府是我国政权体系中直接面对农民群众的最基层单位,其依法行政水平的高低直接关系到国家法律、法规在农村的贯彻和执行,关系到社会主义新农村建设的进程和农村社会的和谐。本文通过对福建省龙岩市部分乡镇和部门的调研,并在龙岩市委党校乡镇长班、乡镇人大主席班、乡镇党委组织委员班等班次进行问卷调查、个别访谈的基础上,分析了当前新农村建设中乡镇政府依法行政的状况、存在的困难及原因,由此提出了进一步推进新农村建设中乡镇政府依法行政的对策。     

起草《政府信息公开条例》（专家建议稿）的基本考虑

政府信息公开对于促进经济增长、推进依法行政、实现人民的民主权利、治理腐败等具有重要的意义。学者起草的《政府信息公开条例》规定了权利原则、公开原则、利益平衡原则、不收费原则、自由使用原则、救济原则 ,并规定在县级以上人民政府设立信息委员会 ,受理人民对信息申请的申诉。同时 ,人民还可以获得提请行政复议、提起行政诉讼的救济。