Commercialisation or Citizenship?

In a recent pamphlet for the Fabian Society, Colin Crouch criticises the use of commercial techniques such as choice within public services. He does this because he says that commercialisation undermines citizenship. In this article, I question Crouch's claim by arguing that careful use of some commercial methods, in particular choice, might actually promote the sort of participative citizenship that he endorses. This discussion has a bearing on an important set of contemporary policy debates.     

数字政府建设中的法律制度完善

当前我国在数字政府建设中取得了良好的成绩,多数省市明确了政务数据管理机构、制定了数字政府发展规划、开发了“一网通办”的网上政务app,并运用多种互联网技术为数字政府助力,让老百姓“最多跑一次”成为现实。但是,在这些成绩的背后,建设过程中法律制度缺失、数据安全和个人信息保护不足、电子政务服务标准不统一、公众参与渠道狭窄等问题也较为突出。因此,为裨助数字政府建设,推动政府治理现代化转型发展,有必要构建完善的数字政府法律框架、尽快出台相关法律法规,统一数字政府政务服务标准,拓宽公众参与建设途径。才能处理好“制度”和“技术”的关系,才能让数字政府建设合规、有序、安全、平稳发展。     

Constitutional,legal and political problems of local government in Nigeria

The new Nigerian local government system was clearly intended by its creators to be a representative and democractic system of devolution. The speed with which elected councils have been dissolved and replaced by caretaker committees and state appointees contrasts strangely with the constitutional provision that there should be a system of local government by democratically elected local councils. The constitutionality of dissolution has been confused with the constitutionality of further local government reform. Dissolution should be seen as an emergency measure to be used rarely in cases of proven maladministration by a local government. Further reform and reorganization of a state's system of local government should be regarded as a legitimate power of the state legislature. The role given by the Constitution to local government should not be interpreted as entrenching the system. Constitutional amendment is not required should further reform be necessary.     

Ideology and the size of US state government

This paper theorizes that the impact of ideology on the size of US state governments increases with state income. This idea is tested using state-level ideology data derived from the voting behavior of state congressional representatives. Empirically the interaction of ideology and mean income is a key determinant of state government size. At 1960s levels of income the impact of ideology is negligible. At 1997 levels of income a one standard-deviation move towards the left of the ideology spectrum increases state government size by about half a standard deviation. Estimated income elasticities differentiated by state and time are found to be increasing with ideology and diminishing with income, as predicted by the theory.     

谈公共产品与政府规制学的法律定位

把公共物品作为行政法的推理起点,可以把规制法学纳入行政法学的理论框架之内,并实现传统行政法学的自我飞跃。如果说传统行政法学是一种程序法,那么政府规制法就是实体性的,因为它探究了公共物品的性质,并把制定政策的最后依据放在公共物品的客观需要上。公共物品作为行政法律关系的客体,既包括行政规制的对象,也能涵盖普通行政管理的对象,把公共物品作为行政法学推理的起点,可以实现规制理论和行政法学的合流,并使行政法学实现由程序主义向实体主义的飞跃。     

The provision of public services by government funded decentralized agencies

Public services are often provided by lower level agencies that are funded by higher level government. Since markets for such services do not exist, normal pressures to minimize costs do not operate; indeed, usually these costs are unobservable. We study a principal-agent model which emphasizes the distinction between the financing and provision of public services. Two broad situations are analyzed: (i) the agencies are induced to reveal true costs; and (ii) in addition, to minimize costs, agencies must be induced to exert effort. The characteristics of the optimal funding contract and the marginal cost of public funds are derived in each case.     

政府购买社会组织服务的问题与对策研究

新时代,地方政府公共服务供给职能急需让渡并进一步完善、优化,应当转变政府观念,打造服务型政府,建立长效的服务供给机制;引入多元监管主体,加强第三方监督和社会监督;鼓励社会组织参与社会服务,提高服务专业化水平;建立有效的监督和评价机制。     

The local state and urban local government in Zambia

It is argued, with reference to urban local government in Zambia, particularly in Lusaka, that recent debates on the form and functions of the national state in Africa may be used to illuminate the working of the urban local state. Available evidence on the class interests represented in the urban local state is reviewed, and these interests and their actions with respect to personal accumulation and political clientelism are found to be similar to those found at the national level. The urban local state in Zambia performs functions similar to those which have been revealed by analyses of other countries, although the nature of these functions, and the extent to which they are successfully performed, is influenced by the political and economic context, the institutional framework and especially the constraints imposed by central government on local autonomy. The changes proposed in the 1980 Local Administration Act are outlined, and a preliminary assessment made of the extent to which they are likely to change the form and functions of the urban local state.     

Manging state government operations: Changing visions of staff agencies

Centralized staff agencies embody the early 20th century bureaucratic reform vision of good government. The behavior of these agencies, as well as the conception of administration contained in the bureaucratic reform vision, are often criticized. Feasible alternative conceptions of staff-line-overseer relations are only beginning to emerge through the contextual development of public management ideas and incremental innovation. This article draws on experience in Minnesota state government in order to formulate a “post-bureaucratic” conception of staff-line-overseer relations. In addition, strategies embedding this conception in the practice of the purchasing, staffing, information policy, and internal service functions are briefly explored.     

Expenditures and receipts in state and local government finances: Reply

It is worth repeating that causality testing is a very complex task. The diversity of views on interpreting the definition of causality and on the methods for testing causality highlight this issue. In our study, we cite an excellent article which provides a detailed critique of various problems associated with causality tests (see Conway, et al., 1984). It would appear that Chowdhury's comment draws very strong conclusions and fails to consider some of the complex theoretical issues regarding causality tests as well as important data problems pertaining to state and local governments. Moreover, we find it somewhat curious that, given the strong similarities in our two studies, Chowdhury prefers to dwell on the mechanics of an alternative technique rather than concentrate on the fact that his alternative technique yields supporting results to our 1987 paper on the tax-spend hypothesis.The views expressed are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. Department of Treasury.     

Expenditures and receipts in state and local government finances: Comment

The aim of this note has been to show that Marlow and Manage's (1987) paper suffers from serious methodological problems due to the non-stationary data series used and the arbitrary lag lengths employed. Use of appropriate stationarity tests and optimal lag lengths of the variables change some of the basic conclusions of their paper. Contrary to their suggestion, the presence of a feedback between local tax receipts and expenditures imply that local governments should be concerned with the implication of their spending and revenue-enhancing decisions on their budget. Decisions to increase current expenditures may lead to higher future taxes. Similarly, efforts to impose higher taxes to reduce budget deficits at the local government level may be futile due to a subsequent increase in spending.     

次国家政府外交在桥头堡开放战略中的定位

中国国家＂桥头堡＂陆路开放战略思维已经逐渐清晰了。从沿海开放到内陆开放是中国全方位开放战略的拓展与深化。与沿海开放相比,由于时代背景与问题领域的不同,＂桥头堡＂陆路开放战略的实施给内陆开放前沿省份的次国家政府外交事务提供了巨大的空间;也正是由于时代和问题领域的不同,内陆开放前沿省份的次国家政府外交事务在＂桥头堡＂战略实施中应当具有更多的国家战略意识、能动性和持久战略规划,充实国家在＂桥头堡＂战略实施中的外交资源。     

论中国政府应急行政的法制建设

加强应急行政的法制建设关系到政府危机管理的有效性,也是建设社会主义法治国家的必然要求。目前,中国政府应急行政的法制建设工作处于快速发展时期,但也暴露出许多不足,应采取措施加以改善。这包括:逐步健全与应急行政密切相关的行政法律法规;加强《突发事件应对法》特别法的立法工作;完善对应急权力的监督和对公民权利的救济制度。     

政府贫困化与近现代中国国家建设的失败

鸦片战争把晚清帝国推进到了国家建设的进程中。晚清的覆灭,民国的建立,标志着中国国家建设的启动。近现代中国国家建设的核心主题是建立一个强而有力的中央政府来实现国家的整合。然而在1949年新中国成立之前,由于中央政府的贫困化,近现代中国始终未能成功地建立起一个能有效推进中国现代化进程的现代国家体系。     

Reforming the state: The policy of administrative reform in Italy under the Ciampi government

Since 1992, administrative reform has become a major theme on the Italian political agenda. This article examines the pressures leading to reform under the Ciampi government (April 1993‐May 1994). It focuses, first, on the directions to be taken by reform that were identified and, second, on their implementation. Also considered are the obstacles to reform found in the political and administrative systems. The limits to the reform and its legacy illustrate the more general problems of the Italian legal and constitutional order.