Developing Management Practices to Support Joined‐Up Governance

Various forms of ‘boundary‐crossing’ practices continue to proliferate in public management and public service provision (i.e. activities that require engagement and collaboration across sectors, institutions, and organisations). Yet the dynamic nature of this type of joined‐up working is proving to be a major management challenge. In this paper, we bring a number of concepts to bear on the management of joined‐up and cross‐boundary working in public management of complex social issues. Firstly, we present the concept of ‘adaptive management’, which we draw from field of environmental policy and planning (and human ecology). Secondly, we introduce a rethinking of the role of ‘policy targets’ using a complexity lens. These concepts are integrated into a practice heuristic (or framework) designed to assist cross‐boundary policy implementation in real‐world settings. We argue that adaptive management approaches may have significant utility for ensuring effective governance in uncertain environments.     

实验主义治理：公共治理的一个新路径

实验主义治理秉持以现实问题为导向和以经验证据为支撑的实证理念和循证品格,在纵向放权的基础上通过目标设置、差异探索、治理评估、政策迭代和政策扩散等机制探寻政策改进和治理优化的可行路径。作为一种新的治理模式,它的兴起是为了应对治理复杂性的挑战、弥补科层式治理的不足和探寻治理现代化的路径等。实验主义治理模式注重纵向放权、公众参与和多元协作,改善了公共治理主体间的关系,提升了治理的参与性、科学性和有效性,是科层式治理模式的重要补充。但在实践中,实验主义治理也面临着法治困境、创新困境和合作困境等现实难题。在我国推进治理体系与治理能力现代化的背景下,应当协调好实验主义治理中创新与法治的内在张力,完善治理体制与机制,提升实验主义治理的实践效能,从而使其在全面深化改革进程中发挥更大的作用。     

治理理论与我国环境治理格局重构

环境治理直接关乎经济与社会的持续发展,环境治理格局则是决定环境治理是否有效的重要因素之一。通过治理理论演绎出基本的多元主体参与的治理框架,再根据环境治理中的弊端和多元利益主体的发展判断治理格局的演化趋向,最后结合治理理论重构环境治理格局,并分析多元主体环境治理格局的关系结构,以期推动环境治理进程。     

半嵌入性互动治理的形成逻辑与主要类型——以H街道四个社区的业委会与物业管理运作为例

城市基层治理涉及多元治理主体的复杂互动关系,这种复杂的互动关系内蕴着权力结构与秩序的演变。国家、市场、社会三方主体力量在中国强国家弱市场弱社会的现实背景下,呈现出以结构性非对称性形式相互依赖、三角权力关系稳定、相互弥补各方失灵为特点的互动形态。文章将此互动形态在基层社区中的运作概括为“半嵌入性互动治理”。基于国家-市场-社会三维分析视角,通过多案例比较方法研究H街道四个社区的业委会与物业管理运作,发现“半嵌入性互动治理”在现实运作中呈现多种类型。国家、市场、社会在基层社区治理中的互动关系会根据现实需求与权力博弈进行平衡与调试,最终保证社区内部安全与有效治理。     

属地管理与基层自主性 ——乡镇政府如何应对有责无权的治理困境

属地管理作为一种行政管理体制,强调以地域来划分政府间责任,并赋予属地政府以一定的自主空间,以期实现守土有责的制度目标。对粤东Z镇的调查显示:基层治理中的属地管理更多地是一种责任落实与追究机制,并逐渐演变为上级职能部门甩锅推责的工具,乡镇政府由此陷入一种有责无权的治理困境。但属地高压下的乡镇政府能够充分发挥能动者的作用,发展出一套基于基层自主性的应对之策,其自主性主要体现在乡镇能够依据属地管理任务的事件属性来自主选择应对策略。基层自主性既是一种现实图景,也构成一种审视基层政府角色的分析视角,从而有助于理解权威体制与有效治理之间的张力,也有助于拓展“压力型体制”和“行政发包制”的理论解释力。     

Local Governance Versus Centralization: Connecticut Wetlands Governance as a Model

Scholars disagree whether local decision making is inherently more democratic and sustainable than centralized governance structures. While some maintain it is, due to the incorporation of local knowledge, citizen decision makers' closeness to the issues, and the benefits of participatory democracy, others find it as susceptible to issues of corruption and poor implementation as any other scale. We argue that with wetlands, a natural resource with critical local benefits, it is imperative to incorporate local governance, using the U.S. state of Connecticut as an example. Despite the American policy of No Net Loss, the local benefits of wetland resources cannot be aggregated on a national scale. Each local ecosystem needs wetland resources to ensure local ecological benefits such as flood control and pollution remission, as well as the substantial economic benefits of recreation. We illustrate the benefits of local control of wetlands with data from the American state of Connecticut, which consistently surpasses the federal wetland goal of No Net Loss due, we argue, to the governance structure of town‐level wetlands commissions. A national policy such as No Net Loss, where wetlands are saved or created in designated areas and destroyed in others, is insufficient when it ignores critical benefits for localities. The Connecticut system using local volunteers and unpaid appointees is a successful method for governing common‐pool wetland systems. In the case of Connecticut, we find that local decision making is not a “trap,” but instead an effective model of sustainable, democratic local governance.     

Transition Management for Sustainable Development: A Prescriptive,Complexity‐Based Governance Framework

This article introduces transition management as a new governance approach for sustainable development. Sustainable development is used here as a common notion referring to those persistent problems in (Western industrialized) societies that can only be dealt with on the very long term (decades or more) through specific types of network and decision‐making processes. Based on interdisciplinary research into complex processes of long term, structural change in society, basic tenets for complexity‐based governance are formulated. These tenets are translated into a framework that distinguishes between four different types of governance activities and their respective roles in societal transitions. This framework can be used for implementation of governance strategies and instruments. The approach and framework have been developed deductively and inductively in the Netherlands since 2000. This article presents the theoretical basis of transition management and will be illustrated by examples from transition management practice, especially the Dutch national energy transition program.     

Tasmania's Tamar Valley Pulp Mill: A Comparison of Planning Processes Using a Good Environmental Governance Framework

In November 2004, the Tasmanian government requested the state's planning body, the Resource Planning and Development Commission (RPDC), to undertake an evaluation of a proposal to establish a pulp mill at Long Reach near Bell Bay on Tasmania's Tamar Estuary. In early 2007, Gunns Limited, the project's proponent, pulled out of the RPDC process and the government established an alternative, ‘fast‐track’ process under the Pulp Mill Assessment Act (PMAA). This article evaluates the RPDC and the PMAA assessment processes using a ‘good environmental governance’ framework composed of eight criteria – transparency, accountability, openness, balance, deliberation, efficiency, science and risk. The comparison reveals that although the RPDC process fell short of the ideal, it was markedly superior to the PMAA process that replaced it. The case highlights how political economic power can be used to the detriment of public planning and the communities and environment that rely on it.     

中国性别失衡问题的社会管理:整体性治理框架

1980年以来中国的出生人口性别比开始急剧升高并长期高位徘徊.随着中国社会的快速转型,性别失衡作为社会管理领域的重大人口问题正面临着诸多问题和挑战.因此在当前的人口社会管理中的管理理念和公共政策等方面就需要突破旧有的管理格局和机制,引入整体性治理理论,最终构建性别平等的和谐社会.本文描述了中国出生人口性别比的最新态势,评述了近年来性别失衡治理的公共政策体系,从整体性治理理论出发论述了社会管理视域下性别失衡治理问题,并基于整体性治理理论提出了性别失衡的社会管理框架,为政府性别失衡治理问题提供支持.基于上述框架,本文发现在中国的性别失衡社会管理框架中存在碎片化问题,公共政策体系需要完善,在性别失衡整体性治理的社会管理框架中要纳入对大龄未婚男性的关注.     

社区公共物品与社区治理--论城市社区"四轮驱动、一辕协调"的治理结构

城市社区日益成为社会公共物品供给与消费的基本单元.然而,在既有的政府垄断性供给体系下,社区普遍存在公共物品供给短缺.改革传统的管理与服务方式,建立新的公共物品供给体系,满足社区不断增长的需求,已成为城市社区建设的中心任务.在众多的创新实践中,"社区治理"不失为一种可行的思路.本文遵循社区治理的理念,尝试将其深化并落实到体制层面,提出"四轮驱动、一辕协调"的社区治理结构与运作模式,并建议首先在"危改回迁社区"中试点.     

我国政府部门实施质量管理体系的探索

引进ISO9000质量管理体系标准是政府部门实现行政管理的制度化、规范化和程序化的有效途径,是构建规范化服务型政府的必要手段和有效保障.本文概述了政府部门引入质量管理体系的理论基础及其独特性,对我国公共部门实施质量管理体系进行了可行性探索.     

Governance and civil society

As part of the ECPA's regular contribution to the Journal, Tom Spencer reviews the new fashionability of governance and examines its confused interface with civil society. He invites participation in the ECPA civil society project, reviews some recent relevant literature and appeals for a coherent current bibliography in this politically urgent field. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications     

The Public Management of Risk: The Case for Deliberating among Worldviews

This article argues that the public management of risk faces inherent "wicked issue" problems which are further accentuated in the context of the contemporary regulatory state. It is suggested that in order to overcome these limitations and inevitable trade-offs, there needs to be a more conscientious effort in setting out distinct components of any public management of risk, which should be considered and discussed through the lens of distinct worldviews contrasting interpretations and solutions, as well as potential "black-spots." It is only by acknowledging limitations of any one strategy and by considering plural solutions that there is less likelihood of disappointment when dealing with crises and disasters.     

社会治理共同体视域下社区协商治理的梗阻与突破路径

党的十九届四中全会提出了建设社会治理共同体的新概念。历史唯物主义认为社会性是共同体的本质属性,因此,未来只有充分激活社区的主体性作用,才能将社区建设成为人人有责、人人尽责、人人共享的社会治理共同体。构建社会治理共同体是社区协商治理的目标,社区协商治理是建设社会治理共同体的重要路径。当前社区协商治理实践面临着社会主体协商意愿淡薄与协商能力匮乏、公权力过度介入、创新难以扩散等困境,制约着社区协商治理的发展。需要在社会治理共同体视域下,通过提升社区居民参与协商的意识、培养社区治理主体的协商能力、转变政府治理理念和职能、加强基层党组织在社区协商治理中的引领作用等路径,突破当前社区协商治理中的梗阻。     

A Framework for Assessing Power in Collaborative Governance Processes

The growing use of collaborative methods of governance raises concerns about the relative power of participants in such processes and the potential for exclusion or domination of some parties. This research offers a framework for assessing power that considers authority, resources, and discursive legitimacy as sources of power and considers the participants, the process design, and the content of collaborative governance processes as arenas for power use. A case study of a collaborative governance process is presented and analyzed using the power framework. Implications for the design of collaborative governance processes are discussed, including the benefits of a multidimensional definition of power, tools for managing power imbalances among participants, and strategies that participants can use to participate more fully in collaborative governance processes.     

Public Financial Management Systems and Countries' Governance: A Cross‐Country Study

The objective of this study is to explore whether a relationship exists between public financial management (PFM) systems and expert perceptions of countries' governance in an international cross‐country study. We examine the extent to which variations in accounting, budgeting and auditing practices are associated with governance in a sample of 97 countries that represent different levels of development, analysing the differences between countries classified into factor, efficiency and innovation‐driven economies. Our concept of governance perception includes three dimensions: accountability, government effectiveness and corruption. We find that countries with a higher level of economic development show, on average, more sophisticated PFM systems characterized by the presentation of accrual‐based financial statements, the application of value for money audits and higher budget transparency. When analysing the sub‐samples of countries according to the level of economic development, we find that countries with similar governance perception scores show different patterns of PFM practices, suggesting that there is no one‐size‐fits‐all approach. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

运动模式下的基层标准化治理困局与突破--基于三维制度逻辑的多案例研究

带有运动模式特质的标准化治理在提升管理效率的同时,也遭遇了基层实践困境,表现为痕迹主义与有效监督并行、形式主义与标准管理共生。把握基层标准化的尺度,将实现基层行政的系统性平衡作为改革探索的重点,研究建立“科层控制、专业化管理和社会协同”三维制度平衡的分析框架,并以此作为解局与破局的理论模型。研究发现,运动模式下的标准化治理困局缘于科层控制逻辑下基层产生的邀功与避责的心态,标准化治理在运动模式下的实践中经常呈现为“悬浮”状态;而专业化管理逻辑打破了原有的制度平衡,使天平一端倾向于科层逻辑,最终导致基层标准化治理的困境;社会协同逻辑作用发挥需要相关主体及时参与到反馈机制中,但实际与前两者脱离。当前需要从制度逻辑平衡的角度出发,自下而上地构建起基层标准化框架,真正解决基层标准化治理困境。     

中国特色反腐倡廉建设的公共治理之道

构建中国特色反腐倡廉的公共治理体系,提升反腐倡廉治理能力是推进国家治理体系和治理能力现代化的客观要求。当前的反腐倡廉工作存在治理主体"虚化弱化"、治理手段"路径依赖"、治理机制"激励弱化"三大"统治"与"管理"路径下的内生困境。因而,中国特色反腐倡廉需要走向"公共治理",建立健全"中心-多元-立体"的公共治理结构,全面强化预防、监督、惩治和保障四大功能,重点优化"控制-协同-激励"为内核的治理机制。     

走出地方冲突治理的误区

推进地方治理创新,实施冲突管理机制不容忽视。冲突管理机制创新,需要走出矛盾冲突根绝论、矛盾冲突消亡论、矛盾冲突速决论、矛盾冲突赎买论等观念误区。通过对四个误区逐一剖析,认为只有消解人们在冲突管理上的迷思,才能正视冲突,分析冲突,预防冲突,管理冲突,进而才有可能创新社会冲突管理机制,科学化解社会矛盾。