Leadership in Local Government Reform: Strategic Direction v Administrative Compliance

This paper reports on a survey across 26 Victorian local councils which assessed the impact of local government reform – boundary restructuring – compulsory competitive tendering, across-the-board rate cuts and rate capping, on the management and organisation of local government organisations in that state. It highlights the fact that leadership, planning and performance management is essential in responding to these reforms. It also reveals thatsome councils have been able to assist employees to make the shift to an outcomes-oriented deliverer of local services while others have made much less progress and are still focused on the traditional, compliance-oriented culture of local government administration.     

The Nature and Direction of Economic Reform in North Korea

In this article we critically examine the nature and direction of economic reform in North Korea. While North Korea began to experiment with reforms and a partial open-door policy in the mid-1980s, the most substantial attempt at economic restructuring occurred in July 2002. In these latest reforms, the government attempted to change the planned economic system through the introduction of price reforms, market and commodity relations, profit motivation and material incentives. However, scholars disagree on the nature and direction of economic restructuring. In order to analyze the state of economic transformation, we develop a conceptual framework of market socialism with a set of empirical indicators against which we examine the trends, direction and limitations of reforms. Our study strongly suggests that North Korea is moving away from the command economy towards a model of market socialism as practiced in China and Vietnam.     

Reining in the Bureaucrats: Democratic Transition and Administrative Procedural Reform in Korea

How do civilian presidents control their bureaucracies after taking over from an authoritarian regime? To answer this question, I develop a “reining in” theory of delegation. I argue that presidents who faces intrabranch conflict over policy issues and cannot appoint—and dismiss—freely will solve their delegation problems through administrative procedure acts (APAs) and related laws. While some scholars argue that APAs are tools for preserving the status quo, I find that APAs help presidents change policy. Building on the delegation literature from economics, my theory represents a more general argument than prior theories for why presidents support APAs. I test the theory through a case study of South Korea's first civilian government (post‐1961), under President Kim Young Sam. Kim initiated an APA to rein in a professionalized civil service that opposed his policy preferences. Strict procedural requirements designed to keep tabs on bureaucratic activities enhanced Kim's control over his bureaucracy.     

政府定位——行政改革分析的新角度

如何摆正社会、市场与政府的关系,何者应该发挥主导作用,这两个问题时时刻刻在影响着中国行政改革的进程。为促使中国行政改革能够自觉、稳妥地进行,本文从中国20余年间起伏的改革历程出发,结合国际社会政府定位的基本理论观点、经验和教训,在否定政府决定论和市场决定论的基础上,断定采取国家社会组合模式,尽管会阻力重重,但这可能是中国政府定位惟一正确的形式,也是中国行政改革的方向。     

Reshaping the State: Administrative Reform and New Public Management in France

This essay examines the administrative reform process in France since the late 1980s. The key reforms undertaken during this period have sought to delegate greater managerial autonomy to the ministerial field-service level. We undertook semistructured interviews with officials in the field services of three French ministries (Education, Agriculture, and Infrastructure) in the Champagne-Ardennes region, as well as with members of the wider policy communities. The capacity of the field services to adopt a proactive approach to management reform depended on five key variables: internal organizational dynamics; the attitude of the central services to mesolevel autonomy; the degree of institutional receptivity to change; the type of service delivery, and the extent of penetration in local networks. The Infrastructure Ministry was more receptive to management change than either Education or (especially) Agriculture, a receptivity that reflects the institutional diversity of the French administrative system, and that supports new institutionalist arguments. The essay rejects straightforward convergence to the New Policy Management norm. Changes in public management norms require either endogenous discursive shifts or else need to be interpreted in terms of domestic registers that are acceptable or understandable to those charged with implementing reform.     

韩国利率改革经验及其对我国的启示

80年代以来 ,韩国大力推进金融自由化的进程 ,成功地完成了利率改革 ,使利率完全达到市场化。其对我国利率改革的启示 :建立统一开放的高效有序的全融市场 ,特别是货币市场 ,是利率自由化改革的基础 ;利率市场化改革和市场调控能力的提高基本上是同步的 ,是一种相互促进、互为条件的关系 ;我们必须树立边破边立的观念 ,不能坐等条件完全成熟 ,要选择渐进方式 ,稳妥有序地推进我国利率市场化改革。     

ISTEA: A New Direction for Transportation Policy

The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA)of 1991 is likely to be remembered as one of President Bush'smost significant contributions to government decentralizationand the ideals of New Federalism. It is a landmark piece oflegislation that makes wholesale revisions in the federal government'srole in transportation policy, providing state and, especially,local policymakers with an unprecedented opportunity to determinethe future direction of the nation's surface transportationprograms. However, at the same time it decentralized authorityover project selection, it continued to expandthe number ofcrossover sanctions attached to federal transportation fundingand preempted state authority over truck weights and lengths.This underscores recent research findings that suggest thatfederalism principles are important to federal policymakersbut not necessarily more important than other competing valuesthat emanate from different political, social, and economicviews.     

新公共管理及其对我国行政改革的启示

新公共管理试图取代传统行政模式的一些核心特点和原则,在一定程度上反映了公共行政发展的规律和趋势。对同样面临变革的中国而言,显然可以给我们提供一定的启示。     

论当代中国行政文化变革战略

行政文化变革是一项复杂的社会系统工程,可以说,当代中国行政文化变革是外在压力和内在动力合力作用的结果。本文在当代中国行政文化变革走向的基础上,从经济学的视角,运用成本———效益分析方法来观照行政文化变革,并指出其成本约束及可能的战略选择。     

论新世纪行政体制改革的目标与路径

进入新世纪，在全面建设小康社会的新形势下，我国行政体制改革的目标是建立和完善公共行政体制。公共行政体制下的政府是公共型政府、公正型政府、民主型政府、法治型政府、有限型政府、分权型政府、透明型政府、服务型政府、效能型政府和责任制政府。建立和完善公共行政体制。必须切实解决传统行政体制中的一系列深层次问题，实现政府体制转型。     

探讨社会中介组织:中国行政改革的新思路

社会中介组织,在西方被称为介于公营部门(政府)和私营的营利性公司(企业)之间的“第三部门”,在调整政府与社会、政府与市场的关系上起着重要的作用。社会中介组织的支撑理念源自于“企业家政府”理论,其建立主要有两种典型方式:政府业务合同出租与根据契约建立起新的组织。为了促使社会中介组织的“管理”与政府公共部门的“监督”之间更好地衔接,需要建立起三大机制——竞争机制、责任机制与法律机制。随着市场经济体制的建立和完善,社会中介组织将在我国经济、政治与社会生活中扮演着越来越重要的角色,探讨社会中介组织对推动中国行政改革的发展有重要的现实意义。     

行政执法体制改革的有益尝试——相对集中行政处罚权试点工作的探索

随着中国加入WTO,我国的政治、经济、社会正发生着深刻的变化,相应的政府机构、体制、定位、管理方式也随之而变,政府机构也在不断地调整和改革。全国正在积极推行的相对集中行政处罚权试点工作正是行政执法体制改革的有力尝试,是实现由多头执法向统一执法的实质性跨越,以达到行政执法法定化、规范化、统一化和专业化。从全国正在试点的城市来看,相对集中行政处罚权试点工作的机构设置、管理体制、执法范围、法律依据、人员     

Hong Kong: Administrative Reform and Recent Public Sector Changes — The Institutionalisation of New Values

Public sector management in Hong Kong is facing major challenges as the territory has undergone substantial changes in the past four decades. A small government, following a policy of nonintervention in a colonial setting, has resulted in a highly structured system whereby it is more convenient to plan and coordinate administrative activities. This centralised structure and the prevailing role culture have combined to facilitate the implementation and institutionalisation of changes in the public service. Considering the experience and activities of selected government departments, it appears that there is a move toward more accountability and a consumer-oriented approach to public sector management in Hong Kong. The new initiatives appear to be consistent with the needs and mood of the society and seem likely to persist in the future, despite an element of uncertainty stemming from the reversal of sovereignty to the People's Republic of China.     

Sustaining economic development in South Korea: Lessons from Japan

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, culture has come to be recognized as a significant regional development resource in China. This paper raises the question of whether cultural strategies of development have ameliorated or exacerbated the government's increasing inability to provide for the public's basic needs. Specifically, it asks: what are the implications of China's cultural strategies of regional development for local-level governance? Three case study villages in Guizhou are examined, each revealing different ways that villages have engaged state development strategies, each with different outcomes. I argue that cultural strategies of development in China introduce a capital logic that greatly influences village governance. Cultural strategies create economic value where none before existed and thus initiate new struggles over ownership among villagers, state actors and entrepreneurs. The privatization of cultural resources has presented new challenges to village governance even while it has been promoted as both an answer to the fiscal challenges faced by many rural communities and a key to the establishment of a new kind of rural citizen.     

政府公共财政职能改革的方向

一、压力与挑战：政府改革的必要性在没有加入世贸组织以前，中国经济发展的内在要求是改革政府规制的主要动力。加入世贸组织以后，政府改革将同时面临既要适应国内经济发展要求又要符合国际贸易规则要求的双重压力。“入世”以后，我国的对外开放和对内改革将进入新的历史阶段。在对外开放上将出现以下特点：我国对外开放从单边自主走向与世贸组织成员多边的相互开放；我国以自主政策为基础和主导的对外开放走向以世贸组织规则为基础的开放；我国对外开放将从局部地区、部分产业走向整体和全部行业的对外开放。这种开放是以世贸组织为法律…     

行政区划改革:视角、路径及评价

本文认为,当前有关行政区划改革的讨论,因急于开药方,而模糊了行政区划改革背后的逻辑。为此,本文在梳理现有代表性观点的基础上,从视角、路径两个层面,剖析行政区划改革背后的逻辑。本文认为当前行政区划改革的探讨主要有两种视角,即管理幅度与管理层次、行政区与经济区关系的视角,视角不同行政区划改革路径也不同,并对相应行政区划改革方案进行了针对性评价。最后,本文指出,要更科学地探讨行政区划改革,必须把握时代特征。     

The Attitudes of Senior Public Servants in Australia and New Zealand: Administrative Reform and Technocratic Consequence?

This article is in the tradition of comparative international research conducted over recent years into changing political-bureaucratic role relations. Its focus is the attitudinal orientation held toward various dimensions of their work by senior public servants in Canberra and Wellington. In particular, it is concerned to gauge officials' tolerance for pluralistic politics, their programmatic commitment, democratic sensibilities, and identification with conventions of ministerial responsibility. The study draws on and develops into four the two categories of public servants identified by Robert D. Putnam during the early 1970s in Western Europe. The information generated may be used as a baseline for future surveys of a similar type, which could identify changing patterns of distribution among the four basic categories: Political Bureaucrats, Classical Bureaucrats, Traditional Bureaucrats, and Technocrats. The present survey shows some significant differences between senior public servants in the two cities. In particular, those in Canberra are less programmatically committed than their Wellington counterparts, and considerably more “elitist” in their attitudes to popular involvement in policymaking. In both capitals officials are proactively rather than reactively orientated, a finding that may run counter to reformers' beliefs in the predominance of “Sir Humphrey Applebys.” The article goes on to relate the survey findings to major public sector changes that have taken place in both cities since the data for this article was collected. It speculates that, especially in New Zealand (but perhaps less so in Australia), these changes will see the emergence of more strongly technocratic attitudes among top public officials. Such attitudes may not sit easily with expectations that senior public servants be both politically accountable and managerially orientated. Finally, the four categories used in this study are related to the “images” of political-bureaucratic role relations developed in other comparative research.     

开创我国经济体制改革的新局面

党的十六大报告以新的高度、新的视野对我国不断深化的经济体制改革进行了总结,使人们对改革实践有了新的认识,使改革理论有了新的发展,为改革深化提供了新思路。     

The Partisan Origins of Economic Perceptions in a Weak Party System: Evidence from South Korea

Political Behavior - While political accountability requires that voters can form an accurate picture of government performance, public evaluations of government performance in established...     

论新时期中国政府治理模式的改革方向

对于中国这样一个发展中大国来说,在新时期,可以尝试的政府治理模式包括四个方向,即市场化改革、参与式多中心治理、解规制与弹性化。这四种模式不完全兼容,因此在综合起来构成一种全新的治理模式的同时,应注意在不同领域有选择性地采用,并赋予不同模式不同的权重。