Beyond COVID-19: Five commentaries on reimagining governance for future crises and resilience

Several Canadian and international scholars offer commentaries on the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for governments and public service institutions, and fruitful directions for public administration research and practice. This second suite of commentaries considers the challenges confronting governments as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the decades to come with an increasingly broad lens: the need to understand and rethink the architecture of the state given recent and future challenges awaiting governments; the need to rethink government-civil society relations and policies to deliver services for increasingly diverse citizens and communities; the need for new repertoires and sensibilities on the part of governments for recognizing, anticipating, and engaging on governance risks despite imperfect expert knowledge and public skepticism; how the COVID-19 crisis has caused us to reconceive international and sub-national borders where new “borders” are being drawn; and the need to anticipate a steady stream of crises similar to the COVID-19 pandemic arising from climate change and related challenges, and develop new national and international governance strategies for fostering population and community resilience.     

大数据下政府应对新型冠状病毒肺炎突发公共卫生事件的思考

当下新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情范围不断扩大,构成全球性突发公共卫生事件,世界多国受到新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情肆虐的严重影响。我国政府科学组织有效应对,新型冠状病毒肺炎引发的公共卫生危机基本得以化解。而大数据技术在新型冠状病毒肺炎公共卫生危机应对与化解过程中发挥着技术支撑的关键作用,充分彰显工具理性在公共行政实践中的不可或缺性。大数据下理性看待政府应对新型冠状病毒肺炎公共卫生危机面临的挑战与机遇,对完善公共卫生安全应急管理体系,构建科学应对公共卫生危机的科学机制,从而提升政府公共卫生危机治理体系与治理能力现代化具有重要的参考价值。     

GitHub use in public administration in Canada: Early experience with a new collaboration tool

GitHub is a web‐based digital project hosting service that facilitates collaboration. We introduce how GitHub works and assess how it has been used in the public sector in Canada based on interviews with federal government leaders and a survey of Canadian public service GitHub users. With little research to date on public sector use of GitHub, and none on its use in Canadian governments, we explore the early experience with this collaboration tool and consider the possible implications for collaboration in government.     

Spending reviews and the Government of Canada: From episodic to institutionalized capabilities and repertoires

Following surges of spending and staff hiring to address the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trudeau government announced a strategic policy review in the 2022 Budget to secure savings of $6 billion. There has been little apparent progress by May 2023 and opaque communications. This is surprising because Canada was once considered an international exemplar for spending reviews, needs to learn from the pandemic experience, has a worrisome medium-to-long-term federal spending trajectory, and the governance and economic context has rapidly evolved. This article identifies different kinds of spending reviews and design considerations, reviews Canada's experience with reviews since the early 1980s, considers recent OECD experience and exemplars, and argues that its spending reviews have become increasingly selective and closed. We suggest the Canadian government should institutionalize annual spending reviews, which can be scaled up or down, and that this points to more fundamental issues for reform and building a new governance culture.     

建设服务型政府需要的“六个转变”

服务型政府需要通过重塑政府与公民的关系、调整政府职能结构、创新政府管理方式、再造政府绩效评价机制、构建行政问责制度、确立行政理念等基本路径,实现6个根本性的转变：从“政府本位”“权力本位”到“公民本位”“权利本位”;从“社会管理为主”到“公共服务为主”;从“基于强制”到“基于同意”;从“内部评估”到“公众满意”;从“问责运动化”到“问责法治化”;从“为民做主”到“为民服务”。     

Comparing accountability relationships between governments and non‐state actors in Canadian and European international development policy

This article examines the alignment of different governance arrangements and alternative accountability mechanisms in international development policy making in Canada and the European Union (EU), with a particular focus on relationships between governments and non‐governmental organizations. The Canadian case illustrates an entrepreneurial mode of governance that aligns with fiscal auditing and performance management mechanisms, while the networked governance model of the EU relies more heavily on accountability instruments of public reporting and deliberation. The article concludes that the European accountability regime likely provides policy makers with more opportunities for social policy learning but would be difficult to implement in Canada given the underlying action logic of the federal government.     

公共危机治理中的政府责任

人类已进入一个全球风险社会的时代,风险和危机业已成为社会常态。如何治理各种风险导致的公共危机已成为各国政府面临的严峻挑战。政府无法单枪匹马地应对各类公共危机,必然需要各类治理主体的协同共治。政府还担负着公共危机治理的重要责任,主要是公共危机治理的掌舵性责任、风险预防的前瞻性责任、各方协同共治危机的统筹协调责任以及承担公共危机治理失败的最大责任等。要促使政府尽责,建立公共危机治理的政府责任机制。     

Reforming Canada's federal health-care funding arrangements

Federal health-care funding has long been a source of policy debate in this country, a situation exacerbated recently by the COVID-19 pandemic and the premiers' calls for a large expansion of the Canada Health Transfer. In this article, we explore four potential pathways policy-makers might consider in order to improve federal health-care funding. These potential pathways should allow policy-makers to consider how to adapt to changing circumstances while addressing citizens' concerns and the demands of provincial/territorial governments. We do not support one or another of these policy pathways. Instead, we explain what they are and what impact they could have.     

公共服务合同外包中政府责任的复合维度:价值、支持与能力

合同外包在运用市场化、社会化手段革新公共服务供给方式的同时,也要求政府重新定位自身须承担的责任,实现工具理性与价值理性的平衡。为保证服务效率与分配公平并重,公共服务合同外包中的政府责任应依循公共价值管理的理念,在价值、支持和能力三个维度上得到明确和落实。通过以公共需求为核心传递价值、以多元参与为导向整合支持、以过程管理为基础提升能力,政府能够在公共服务合同外包的过程中发挥更加积极的作用,成为负责任的服务安排者和精明的项目发包方。     

The privatization of housing assistance: Are housing allowances eroding government accountability?

A major change in the low‐income housing sector across nations has been the introduction of housing allowances (or vouchers/benefits) typically used on private rental markets. This change is a fundamental shift from post‐war housing policy when government was a main provider through publicly owned housing. This “privatization” is usually associated with the New Public Management. This article addresses this policy change and discusses the implications for the accountability of governments in Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta. This article argues that the policy shift from in‐kind to in‐cash has not eroded accountability due to the distinctiveness of housing assistance, compared to other social programs. Actors involved in the housing community continue to challenge governments with regard to consumption subsidies, emphasizing their flaws and imperfections. The argument is empirically probed through a comparative analysis over 50 years, drawing on government archival records and housing advocates’ publications.     

应对突发事件，建设责任政府——海城豆奶中毒事件的启示

绝大多数政府在任期内都可能遭遇突发事件,从而形成对政府管理理念、应变能力、权力立场、公信程度、甚至是管理制度的挑战。以此案为例,揭示了一个地方政府在突发事件中暴露的行政职能失当、行政伦理失范、行政理念模糊、行政责任缺失和应急管理机制欠缺等问题。吸取教训的出路在于一改衙门政府为责任政府。具体的改革着力点,在制度层面,当务之急是建立获得公民认可、具有公共财政、管理公共事务、实施依法行政、奉行公共参与、满足公共利益、承担公共责任、接受公共监督的真正的公共行政;在技术层面则需要建立应对突发事件和危机的制度与机制。     

公共管理责任机制与我国责任型政府的构建

公共管理责任机制作为一种约束政府行为的有效机制,把政府与公民联系起来,并促使政府最终对公民负责。迄今为止,公共管理产生了两种责任机制,即传统责任机制与管理主义责任机制。基于对传统责任机制和管理主义责任机制的比较与分析,我国责任型政府的构建,应着重从以下几个方面进行:转变政府职能,建立有限政府;创新施政理念,建立人本政府;坚持依法行政,建立法治政府;完善监督机制,建立透明政府;加强行政伦理,自觉履行责任。     

困境与理路：网络问责的政府回应性分析

随着公民问责意识的逐渐增强，我国政府对网络问责的回应性不断提升，取得了良好的回应效果，但依旧面临诸多现实困境，如政府权威信息缺失、政府回应的思维方式滞后、回应方式失当、官员回应能力和素养不足以及政府回应的制度化水平较低等。要提高政府有效回应网络问责的基本理路，需推进政府及时发布权威信息，提升官员回应能力与素养，建立长效的网络民意收集与反馈机制，完善规范政府回应行为的法律法规，提升政府回应的主动性。     

行政责任:概念、性质及其视阈

在结构性的意义上,行政责任体现为政府行动者的角色或功能。功能界定了公共行政的限度和范围,角色表明了政府与其他行动者之间的关系。行政责任问题实际上可以看作是一系列解决有关以行政权力为轴心的紧张关系的问题。将这种基于不同角色、不同地位、不同利益、不同权力和义务的紧张关系纳入到责任问题的范畴中,就为分析各种利益诉求之间的复杂博弈关系提供了切入性的方法。     

Does public reporting measure up? Federalism,accountability and child-care policy in Canada

Abstract: Governments in Canada have recently been exploring new accountability measures within intergovernmental relations. Public reporting has become the preferred mechanism in a range of policy areas, including early learning and child-care, and the authors assess its effectiveness as an accountability measure. The article is based on their experience with a community capacity-building project that considers the relationship between the public policy, funding and accountability mechanisms under the federal/provincial/territorial agreements related to child-care. The authors argue that in its current form, public reporting has not lived up to its promise of accountability to citizens. This evaluation is based on the standards that governments have set for themselves under the federal/provincial/territorial agreements, as well as guidelines set by the Public Sector Accounting Board, an independent body that develops accounting standards over time through consultation with governments.     

Canadian cities and the American example: a prologue to urban policy analysis

Abstract: The developmental pattern that characterizes metropolitan areas in the United States often serves as a basis for evaluating the condition of Canadian cities and attributing a distinctive thrust to Canadian urban policy. To be meaningful, however, comparative evaluations have to take account of the way government activities have helped to shape U.S. metropolitan areas over an extended period of time. A criticism implicit in much US. urban analysis is that government activities have persistently contributed to large inequalities in the social and economic condition of metropolitan area municipalities. In Canada, by comparison, interjurisdictional equalization has played a larger role in federal-provincial relations than it has in federal-state relations in the United States. It also seems to have influenced the way provincial governments dealt with municipalities during the 1960s and 1970s. At the present time, however, provincial governments are allowing the governmental systems of metropolitan areas to become more fragmented. They are also under pressure to reduce or abandon their efforts to equalize services and property tax burdens among municipalities. How they respond to that pressure will help to determine how closely the development of Canada's metropolitan areas conforms to the pattern of urban development characteristic of the United States.     

构建多元共治的基层维稳新机制

当前,我国的基层维稳机制在缺乏制度化顶层设计的情况下,存在一些缺陷,具体表现为：重视政府体制内维稳而忽视公众参与;重视策略性维稳而忽视制度性维稳;重视善后补救而忽视事前制度建设。这种维稳机制形成的原因在于基层政府与民众间的互动渠道不畅通、博弈过程中主体权利不均衡及公众利益诉求表达缺乏组织依托。要有效解决目前基层维稳机制存在的问题,应当在基层社会管理过程中塑造多元共治的维稳新机制,让民众从维稳的对象转变为参与基层维稳的主体。具体路径应当从强化民间组织介入、完善基层维稳问责评价体制和提升基层政府公信力入手。     

Enduring,ephemeral and emerging issues in public administration in Canada: Trends in Canadian Public Administration over fifty years (1958–2007)

Abstract: This issue of Canadian Public Administration marks two landmarks. It is the 50th anniversary issue of the Journal, and it is the last issue to be published by the Institute of Public Administration of Canada. For this issue, we have not produced a “special issue” in the sense of commissioning particular articles. Instead, we have brought together a number of articles that were already in the “pipeline” but that the editors thought made a particular contribution to public administration in Canada. This introductory article, or editor's review, is a retrospective analysis of the content of the Journal. It would appear that while there has been a slight shift towards public policy and a greater concern with provincial and local administration, cpa has maintained an enduring interest in its core areas of administrative theory and political and legal institutions. The content is also compared with findings of the content of other journals and also other analyses of cpa . This review is followed by commentaries by former editors and associate editors on their experiences with the Journal.     

Studying public administration

Abstract: This paper argues that the study of public administration needs to be reoriented to assist governments, in particular our public services, to meet new challenges. The paper suggests that our public services are facing nothing short of a crisis situation. Public bureaucracies are under attack everywhere, even at times by the political masters they seek to serve and by those who in the past urged governments to intervene in the economy. The Westminster model that underpins the work of our public services is also being transformed in many subtle and not-so-subtle ways. In addition, governments everywhere are being pressed to do more with less and public servants are being asked to manage government operations more efficiently. The paper suggests that, as presently constituted, our public administration programs in Canadian universities are of limited help to public administrators. Policy issues dominate the agenda of our public administration programs far too much. The paper calls for a return to the work of the pioneers of Canadian public administration. It also calls for new studies in public management and suggests ways in which this could be accomplished. Sommaire: Cet exposé soutient qu'il faut réorienter I'étude de I'administration publique pour aider les gouvernements, et plus particulièrement les fonctions publiques, à relever de nouveaux défis. L'auteur avance que les services publics font face à une crise. Partout, les bureaucraties publiques font I'objet d'attaques, aussi bien de la part des politiciens qu'elles s'efforcent de servir que de ceux qui ont autrefois incité les gouvernements à intervenir dans I'économie. Le modèle de Westminster, qui sous-tend l'activité de nos services publics, subit lui aussi des transformations tantôt subtiles tantôt radicales. De plus, les gouvernements sont partout contraints à faire davantage avec moins de ressources, tandis que les fonctionnaires sont poussés à assurer les activités gouvernementales avec une plus grande efficacité.     

责任性与避责:公共行政学研究的大问题

什么是公共行政学研究的旨趣和中国公共行政学研究的核心问题?区别于私人部门管理,公共性是公共行政的本体论属性。公共行政的公共性使得公共行政管理问题归根到底都是责任性问题。回顾公共行政学的历史发展,责任性问题是公共行政研究的核心旨趣。与责任性一体两面的避责研究是目前公共行政学研究的热点议题,对中国公共行政学研究的理论和实践有重大意义。通过对国内外避责研究文献的述评,本文探讨未来对这一议题进行研究的方向和路径,提出从避责问题研究出发,发展行动研究是中国公共行政学研究未来发展的重点。