Uses and limitations of performance measurement in the civil service: An assessment from the Singapore and New Zealand experiences

This article examines the relevance of Zartman's “ripeness theory” to explain the resolution of the China‐Vietnam conflict. It analyses the core concepts of this theoretical approach to the study of conflict resolution, and evaluates the explanatory value of this approach for understanding the resolution of conflict in specific cases such as the China‐Vietnam conflict. The article identifies three core concepts in this theory, including “hurting stalemate”, “ripe moment”, and “ripe for resolution”. But from the analysis of the China‐Vietnam conflict, it could not discern any of these concepts or stages in the process of conflict resolution in this particular case. Thus, it concludes that Zartman's theoretical approach does not have an explanatory value for the case of the resolution of the Sino‐Vietnamese conflict.     

Integrated resorts and hotel (gambling) service enterprises in Singapore,Macau and Australia: the changing policy landscape

In 2006, Singapore passed legislation allowing the establishment of integrated resorts (IRs) with extensive gaming facilities on the island nation. The Singaporean government was motivated to open two massive IRs in 2010 by the twin objectives of achieving a dramatic elevation in the position of the services industry within their national economy, and to increase state income through lucrative gaming taxes. The Singapore government's decision to take this developmental step was directly influenced by the expansion of Macau into the largest global gambling entity in the world, now dwarfing Las Vegas across all key indicators including revenue and visitor numbers. Macau's position at the pinnacle of Asian gambling, attracting the massive Chinese market, is now beyond dispute. Combined, both Macau and Singapore have altered the IRs services landscape of Asia and Australasia. The economic success of the two Asian gambling giants has seen notable policy responses from national and regional governments. In Australia these policy responses have led to decisions to build new IRs and massively redevelop existing facilities up to a new standard of service aimed at competing with the new facilities operating in Singapore and Macau.     

The Depoliticisation of Development and the Democratisation of Politics in Tanzania: Parallel Structures as Obstacles to Delivering Services to the Poor

Local democracy and the involvement of local communities in the provision of social services are central issues in the local government reforms that are presently being implemented in many developing countries. At the same time, institutions that run parallel to local authorities, such as social funds and various user-committees, are established to improve accountability and participation. By focusing on actual political processes rather than administrative, legal and fiscal aspects of decentralisation, this article traces the breakdown of two development projects in Tanzania to the existence of parallel structures. It suggests that user-committees and social funds should be integrated in local authority structures to avoid fragmentation of participation and to enhance local democracy.     

Utilizing FDI to Stay Ahead: The Case of Singapore

A country of 5 million people in 710?km², Singapore has built itself into an integral part of global markets with living standards that are among the highest in the world. The purpose of this article is to apply a capabilities-based approach to understand how a small, resource-scarce country dependent on global markets has done so well. The core of Singapore??s success has been the continuous updating and expanding of domestic social capabilities to meet the needs of foreign companies. Government policies were hypersensitive to providing conditions for foreign firms to be successful. Foreign firms investing in Singapore by now have helped close the income gap with advanced economies and are on the way to closing the innovation gap. Singapore demonstrates that with deliberate attention to building skills, institutions and infrastructure, it is possible for a small country to upgrade skills and to move up the production-value chain with primary reliance on foreign direct investment (FDI). Cultivation of private Singaporean firms has been secondary but may be the next step needed to sustain progress, both to respond to increased competition from China and others, and to build a knowledge-based economy.     

Delivering Political Power to Language Minorities: Voting,Elections, and the Rights of Language Minorities

This article examines the significance of emerging international interdependency and how it may influence the teaching of Public Affairs/Administration (PA) in the next decade. Postwar demand for international courses is described along with a different set of contemporary factors that is internationalizing traditionally domestic sectors of society. The growing importance of policy issues such as international trade and economic competition, immigration, and terrorism is examined along with the possible effect on education. The potential roles of public administrators are also outlined and recommendations are made for ways in which the PA community can assess its response to an internationalized policy environment.     

Delivering joined–up government in the UK: dimensions, issues and problems

In the UK, joined–up government (JUG) was a central part of the first Blair government's programme for public sector reform. It remains a pivotal, if more muted, feature of the second term. We will identify the range of disparate activities that have been branded as 'joined up'. We then look at the variety of official guidance coming from the centre of government to highlight the overlapping and competing strategies that underpinned the implementation of joined–up government. Various competing strategies have been advocated and implemented at any one time. Therefore the situation was more fluid and more contested than might be inferred from the use of the homogenizing term 'joined–up government'. We conclude by briefly considering what this implies for our understanding of intra–state relationships, of the relationships between public agencies and civil society, and the relationship between JUG and the politics of the Third Way.     

The changing relationship between the state and the voluntary philanthropic sector: special reference to Singapore

There has been a significant proliferation of voluntary philanthropic organizations to deliver basic services in the current context of anti-welfare neoliberal policies pursued by the state. While there are numerous studies and publications on these voluntary organizations, the nature of their relationship with the state remains relatively under-researched. This article attempts to explore this issue in the case Singapore where, in the absence of an active welfare state, the voluntary philanthropic organizations—especially the Voluntary Welfare Organizations (VWOs)—have played a crucial role in serving citizens’ welfare needs. In evaluating the nature and determinants of this state-VWO relationship, the article examines some relevant theoretical models and applies them to the Singapore case.     

Testing the antecedents to e-democracy towards citizens’ happiness: a structural equation modelling approach to ‘MyGov’ initiative,India

ABSTRACT

“MyGov” is an ambitious ICT-based platform of the government of India, where citizens contribute to policy making by engaged in various ways. As the initiative is about to complete 5 years, the research is focused on to test the antecedents to e-democracy and citizens’ happiness by a structural equation modeling on responses from 413 users of “MyGov” platform. The empirical outcomes established the predictive role of transparency and value expectancy on e-democracy in addition to the impact of trust and e-democracy on citizens’ happiness. The study also supported the positive association between transparency and trust.     

From retrenchment to performance: civil service reform in Africa

Whether or not an unfettered market is the best solution to Africa's problems, the public service is both the subject and the object of reform. It is an arena of policy change and adjustment in economic management, as well as the locus of struggle over principles and patterns of administrative practice. Below we take empirical stock of the patterns and progress made in public service reform in Africa, a process characterized by cost containment and retrenchment. Then we examine what is entailed in a qualitatively different public service that well serves a liberal economy, concluding with observations on whether and how that might happen in Africa.     

Between Decisiveness and Credibility: Transforming the Securities Industry in Singapore and Thailand

This article suggests a political party-centred explanation of economic policy reforms that differs significantly from the standard theoretical models that emphasise social coalitions, government systems, regime types or electoral cycles. The explanatory approach advanced here focuses on inter-party and intra-party organisational dimensions within an integrated analytical framework as the major determinants of both the decisiveness of policy reforms and the credibility of such reforms. A comparative analysis of government efforts to transform the securities industry in Singapore and Thailand provides preliminary evidence with which to explore the proposed causal linkage between the patterns of stock market reforms and the changing configurations of political parties.     

Technological learning in Singapore: A test case of leapfrogging

Some technology analysts have suggested that developing countries (DCs) might be able to ‘leapfrog’ earlier technological paradigms and catch up in the field of electronics. This paper provides a partial test case of the leapfrogging argument, using evidence from Singapore's electronics industry. It shows that technology was accumulated through a gradual process of learning, rather than by leapfrogging. Indeed, corporate learning was incremental, painstaking, long‐term and cumulative. Also in contrast with the leapfrogging hypothesis, firms tended to enter electronics at the mature phase of the product cycle rather than the early stage. Furthermore, much of the technology accumulated by Singapore's electronics industry was ‘pre‐electronic’ in character, involving crafts, mechanical and precision engineering, electro‐mechanical interfacing and basic manufacturing skills, rather than the software, computer and R&D skills usually associated with electronics. The evidence from Singapore suggests that industrial development in electronics involves a gradual and systematic accumulation of industrial, educational and infrastructural capabilities, many of which are associated with pre‐electronic technological paradigms.