关于我国政府绩效管理立法的思考

随着政府绩效管理的兴起和发展,政府绩效管理立法越来越成为摆在我们面前亟待解决的重大现实问题.政府绩效管理本质上涉及的是行政权的运作、监督和公民权的保护,因而必须用法律形式加以规定.加快政府绩效管理立法,有利于提高政府绩效管理的权威性和规范性,促进政府绩效管理健康有序地发展.政府绩效管理立法必须明确立法宗旨,并在此基础上作整体性建构,以保证政府绩效管理目标的实现.     

Public Sector Reform in Australia: An Evaluation of the Corporatisation of Sydney Water, 1995 to 2002

The corporatisation of Sydney Water from 1995 onwards formed part of a much broader process of public sector reform in Australia. However, Sydney Water represents an unusual case study of corporatisation since it has embodied two distinct forms of corporate structure over the period 1995 to 2002; both the company model and the statutory model. This article seeks to evaluate the success or otherwise of this corporatisation process using ‘internal’ measures of the performance appraisals undertaken by ‘outside’ bodies in six main forums: The independent assessments against operating licence conditions; NSW government's annual assessments of government businesses performance; Sydney Water's own performance measurement against corporate business plans; water reform measures stipulated by the Council of Australian Governments; industry financial performance indicators as measured by the Water Services Association of Australia; and an international assessment conducted by the UK Office of Water Services.     

Organising for Effective Emergency Management: Lessons from Research1

The February 2009 bushfires have prompted a debate with regard to contemporary arrangements for dealing with large‐scale disasters. In this article, we seek to contribute to that debate by culling lessons learned from the literature on crisis and disaster management. We discuss what constitutes an effective disaster response system, we identify some key barriers to the effective functioning of such a system, and offer some suggestions for improvement.     

Issue Voting in Portugal: The 2002 Legislative Elections

This article analyses the relative impact of position versus performance issues in Portuguese voting behaviour at the 2002 legislative elections and examines the relative importance of issues compared to other determinants of voting behaviour. The article first defines issues and then presents a model of voting choice, before examining the salience of different issues. The impact of issues, as opposed to other major voting determinants, is evaluated as vote predicting factor.     

论田纳西·威廉斯作品《玻璃动物园》中逃生梯的象征意义

田纳西·威廉斯是对美国戏剧产生重要影响的剧作家,其作品对美国戏剧至今还有重要影响。作品《玻璃动物园》是他的成名作,被誉为“开辟了现代戏剧史上的新篇章”。描述了美国大萧条时期的一个普通家庭。威廉斯在该剧里成功运用了很多象征手法,不仅使其塑造的人物真实、丰满,而且也更深刻地挖掘了作品本身的社会意义和时代气息。从剧中三个主要人物入手,集中讨论剧中重要的舞台设置之一“逃生梯”的象征意义。这个象征手法的应用更加突出地表现了剧中人物在面对现实与理想的碰撞时内心的彷徨和选择,对揭示该剧主题之一,即“逃离”有重要的意义。     

我国侵权责任法的立法特质

我国侵权责任法是一部专门性、技术性及思辩性都很强的民事立法。基于其调整对象的复杂性、特殊性和重要性,在多元利益的复杂权衡和多种价值取向的艰难博弈中,侵权责任法吸纳当今中外最新立法、司法经验智慧和学理研究成果并努力将现代立法技术发挥到极致。侵权责任法犹如一座法律富矿,在立法考量、立法理念、立法价值、立法关切、立法逻辑、立法传承等方面浸润着极其深邃的人文气度和极富理性的规则取向,充分展示了颇为独到的立法特质。     

从层级行政管理模式到项目管理模式:提高专项业务行政效率的有效途径

一些专项业务,通过金字塔行政组织逐级下达任务,逐级指挥、协调和控制,任务完成后再逐级上报和审查,不仅效率十分低下,也严重影响任务完成的质量。改变为项目管理模式,能够收到快速、低耗、高质的效果。本文通过一个实例,剖折了层级行政管理模式的弊端及问题形成的症结,介绍了项目管理模式的特点及运作方式。     

An Analysis of Statutory Development: The Correlates of State Activity in Product Liability Legislation

In the last few years legal scholars and politicians have been concerned with what many have referred to as the "liability crisis". While there is certainly no consensus involving precisely how serious the problem indeed, some argue that there is no crisis -there is some evidence that the frequency and size of jury awards in some types of personal injury cases have changed since the 1970s. In response to this evidence virtually every state has considered legislation that would limit the frequency or size of such awards and would modify related judicial processes. Although the final status of many of these "tort reforms" is still uncertain, bills related to punitive damages and other dimensions of tort Iiability have been introduced in and passed by one or more houses in many state legislatures. This paper examines this legislative activity and focus on bills that have passed in one or more state legislative houses in the 1986–88 time period. Using standard multivariate statistical techniques, it examines the relationship between this legislative activity and dimensions of state politics and culture. The research indicates that state legislative activity in the area of tort reform results from a rather complex mix of factors. It is a function of political and social-economic attributes, as well as features of the states' legal and judicial systems.     

The Use of Predictive Modelling in Impact Assessment: Implications for Environmental Legislation and Regulation

Predictive modelling is now an indispensable tool in the identification of social, economic and environmental impacts and risks. This article appraises its use in the assessment of environmental impacts on the Gordon River of Basslink, the Bass Strait power cable that will plug Tasmania into the National Electricity Market. This study follows a proponent's knowledge claims derived from predictive modelling from their origin in researchers' reports to their legitimation as regulatory outcomes. By tracing two modelling comparisons, it will be shown that conclusions on the extent of environmental impacts on the Gordon River changed during the impact assessment process from being considered significant to insignificant and, consequently, how an invocation of environmental regulatory legislation was avoided.     

The Impact of the Scottish Parliament in Amending Executive Legislation

This paper provides the first systematic attempt to investigate the legislative impact of the Scottish Parliament on Executive legislation, by analysing the fate of all amendments to Executive bills from the Parliament's first session (1999–2003). Initial findings on the success of bill amendments show that the balance of power inclines strongly in favour of ministers. However, when we account for the type of amendment and initial authorship we find evidence that the Parliament (both coalition and opposition MSPs) actually makes more of an impact, particularly in terms of the level of success of substantive amendments to Executive bills. Our findings have implications for much of the current literature that is sceptical of the existence of power sharing between the Executive and the Parliament and within the Parliament.     

The State in Environmental Management: The Ecological Dimension

A focus on 'modern' industrialized societies obscures both the great antiquity of the state and the powerful selective pressures that have led to the dominance of interstate competition, especially warfare. In pursuit of power, elites encouraged population growth and intensified the exploitation of the natural resource base, with progressively more severe ecological impacts. Modern technology has vastly amplified the problem. Though it makes possible sophisticated environmental management, that has been neglected for the demands of the military—industrial system. These ill-effects are reinforced by ignorance of ecology and inadequacy of traditional political thought. A major adaptive challenge faces modern states: to use their knowledge and resources for more humane, environmentally sensitive management and perhaps achieve a novel kind of steady state, or to renew emphasis on short-term competitive considerations.     

保障党员权利:党的先进性建设的基础工程

党员权利主要是政治权利、民主权利和工作权利,保障党员权利就是保障党组织的凝聚力和生命力。推进这项工程,要从党的先进性建设的高度,充分认识保障党员权利的必要性、重要性和紧迫性;要认真落实《党员权利保障条例》的各项规定和要求,在进一步加大政治体制改革力度的实践进程中着力搞好党内相关制度的改革和完善。     

Mechanisms of Issue Congruence: The Democratic Party Mandate

Issue congruence between voters and parties can be achieved if voters and parties follow the party mandate model. A central requirement of this model is that parties fulfil their electoral mandate. This article studies collective party mandate fulfilment by comparing parties’ election manifestos with the parliamentary speeches of their politicians in two countries: a typical consensus democracy, the Netherlands, and a typical majoritarian democracy, the United Kingdom. The central question is whether a difference in collective mandate fulfilment exists between these two types of democracy. Contrary to previous findings, this study finds that such a difference does not exist, at least not with regard to the two countries analysed. This can be explained by the way in which the party mandate is conceptualised. The article also analyses the development of party mandate fulfilment over time and finds no evidence for the idea that collective mandate fulfilment is declining.     

Priming Presidential Approval: The Conditionality of Issue Effects

Variations in the effectiveness of media priming are traditionally attributed to individual differences in political sophistication and news exposure. We contribute to this literature by considering the degree to which the content of an issue prime drives its use in presidential approval. Using a macro level approach, we combine public opinion data on presidential approval from 1981 to 2000 with content analyses of presidential news coverage to see how media attention affects the way issues are weighted in presidential approval. We find that the effectiveness of issue primes depends on issue content, such that familiar and understandable issues are more likely to be primed than more complex and difficult issues.

The Review of Victoria's Guardianship Legislation: State Policy Development in an Age of Human Rights

This article considers the Victorian government's decision to review the state's guardianship legislation and notes the significant place international human rights developments are playing in that review. The article recognises the opportunities these developments present for reworking the guardianship legislation to increase the autonomy and decision-making power of people with disabilities, but also considers the challenge these developments present to ensuring that society continues to protect its most vulnerable citizens.