The Evolution of Public Service Provision by the Third Sector in France

Public services have been externalised, in part, to the non‐profit sector in France and in the United Kingdom. This article begins by reviewing relations between the public and non‐profit sector in France before 2008, and its evolution since. This has been characterised by the slow reduction of public funding, the adaptation of non‐profit associations and organisations, and their clearer positioning within a wider ‘social and solidarity economy’, which was consolidated by a framework Law in 2014. The article then examines the current sharing of responsibilities between the public and non‐profit sectors in education, health and social services, pointing to the diverse historical and political conditions which have led to this shared organisation.     

A Knowledge‐Based Approach to Public Value Management: A Case Study of Change Implementation in Disability Services in Western Australia

This paper provides a knowledge‐based perspective to understanding public value management (PVM). As distinct from other approaches to public administration, PVM focuses on collaborative capacity building for the creation of public value. To develop the notion of PVM further, we explore the role of a knowledge‐based strategy in a case study of change implementation in 18 disability service organisations in Western Australia. Our findings show important inter‐relationships between knowledge management strategy, adopting a person‐centred approach to service provision, and sustainability of change implementation. We discuss the implications of the study for disability sector change management and for the further exploration of the strategic role of knowledge management capabilities in the study and practice of PVM in public sector administration. The paper explores the relationship between an organisation's knowledge capture and sharing systems and processes and its ability to implement change in a way that generates long‐term benefits for both public sector employees (e.g., engaging with key stakeholders to generate innovative solutions for serving client needs) and clients (i.e., increased well‐being through better service design and support).     

Institutionalising a National Approach to Performance Reporting: Lessons from Two Decades of Experience with the Report on Government Services

The Report on Government Services (RoGS) to the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) is considered an exemplar of benchmarking in a federal system. Published annually since 1997, RoGS provides performance reporting in the form of cross jurisdictional benchmarking on an unprecedented scale and scope. This paper argues ROGS has institutionalised a national approach to performance measurement and reporting that is now at the centre of the COAG reform agenda. The paper examines the processes and institutional structures that explain how RoGS has transformed performance reporting for social infrastructure services. The final section provides a preliminary assessment of the impact of RoGS.     

Investigating the leaders' state of readiness in the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services in South Africa to develop policy for the fourth industrial revolution

The study investigated the state of leadership readiness in the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services (DTPS) to develop policy for the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). The DTPS is the lead Department in terms of 4IR within the Public Service and there are specific skills that are required within the DTPS to effectively lead in this regard. This study investigated the perceived gap between current skills and required skills in DTPS. The study adopted a qualitative method to obtain leaders' views and opinions by conducting structured and semi-structured interviews. The nature of the study is exploratory. A total of 10 DTPS employees, both female and male on a 50/50 basis were interviewed on the skills of the leaders' state of readiness in developing policy for 4IR. The study findings identified an absence of problem-solving, analytical, creative, technical, conflict management, collaboration and artificial intelligence, innovation and change management skills. It recommends that these competencies be included in the current Public Service Competency Assessment Framework that ensures that leaders are ready for policy development for 4IR.     

A Comparative Study of the Effects of Institutional Arrangements in Municipal Solid Waste Services in Korea

In Korea, local governments are primarily responsible for providing municipal solid waste services to citizens. This paper examines the effects of different institutional arrangements and characteristics on cost savings, efficiency gains and productivity in the delivery of municipal solid waste services to citizens. In order to carry out this research, a hybrid cost function approach was employed, and cross-sectional time-series data from local governments of Korea covering a ten-year period (2000–2009) were used for empirical analysis. Empirical findings indicated that there were no effects of contracting-out on cost savings, efficiency and productivity gains in Korea. Specifically, the solid waste service costs were not significantly lower under contracting-out than under direct public delivery. In addition, contrary to the arguments of the proponents of privatization or contracting-out, efficiency and productivity gains were actually higher under direct public delivery than when contracted out.     

Review article: the moral right to health: a survey of available conceptions

In recent years, there has been increasing recognition of both the philosophical questions engendered by the idea of a human right to health and the potential of philosophical analysis to help in the formulation of better policy. In this article, I attempt to locate recent work on the moral right to health in a number of historically established conceptions, with the aim of providing a map of the conceptual landscape as to the claims expressed by such a right.     

城市社区老年群体就医行为影响因素分析

日益增长的老年人健康需求是老龄化带来的诸多挑战中的一个重要方面。新一轮医药卫生体制改革突出强调基本医疗服务供给和基层卫生服务体系建设,在缓解老年人健康压力方面有一定的积极作用。老年人在身体条件、经济能力、思想观念等方面的特点,使得其就医行为受到机构服务能力、距离、费用、就医过程等多方面因素影响。在新医改背景下,需要结合这些影响因素继续完善基层医疗服务体系,以更好地满足老年群体健康需求。     

浅谈高职高专院校体育教育改革

随着高职高专院校体育教育改革的不断深入,虽已取得了一定成果,但目前改革的成效还不能令人满意。本文从体育教育思想、体育教育目标、体育教育内容、组织形式和教学方法、体育教育的评价方法等五个方面来阐述高职高专院校体育教育改革,提出了改革的内容、方向和侧重点。     

From Dialectic of Nature to the Asian Mode: A Pre-history of North Korean Environmental Approach

North Korea is not a nation or field that attracts a great deal of critically minded analysis which would address the processes and moments of its ideological history. This is especially true when it comes to matters of North Korea’s relationship with nature and the environment, and the ideologies which underpin developmental and productive strategies within that nation. The routes which Marxist analysis in general took to connect to the Korean Peninsula are themselves fairly obscure and rarely considered. This paper therefore seeks an examination of the generation of Marxist analysis of nature and of those modes of production which encounter, transform and interact with natural and environmental forms. It considers the work of both Engels and Marx on the subject before tracing the journey those theorisations took into the practices and articulations of later Marxists, communists and socialists tasked with applying Marxist principles more widely in the processes of nation building and governance. In particular, it analyses notions of an Asian Mode of Production and the debate in Marxist circles as to that mode’s veracity and utility. It also encounters briefly the work of Karl Wittfogel, a counter-Marxist theoretician, and his notion of Hydraulic Economy. Finally, the paper traces the journey made by these theoretical structures into the intellectual world of the Korean Peninsula, navigating the debates it generated among early Korean Marxist intellectuals and their embedding or otherwise within the ideological structures and processes of North Korea.     

如何提高医学留学生临床课程课堂教学质量的思路探讨

招收外国留学生是学校扩大国际影响、提高办学质量和多元化、多层次办学的一个重大举措之一。近年来国内医学高校相继开始招收留学生,但国内现有的医学教学模式并不能完全满足现代留学生医学教育的要求。要提高留学生的课堂教学质量,首先要了解他们的需求、知识背景及学习特点;其次是选用先进教材,再次是尝试更有效的课堂教学模式。     

Explaining preferences for redistribution: A unified framework to account for institutional approaches and economic self‐interest for the case of monetary transfers for families and children

Explanations of different patterns of preferences for redistribution either highlight the role of the institutional framework in a country or highlight the importance of self‐interest and rational expectations. The study introduces a unified approach to explain differences in preferences for redistributive measures for the case of intergenerational monetary transfers for families and children. Both explanatory approaches are integrated into the action‐based Model of Frame Selection that incorporates normative motives and economic self‐interest into the process of decision making. Using a large sample that deals with questions on the approval of public policies for families and accounts for the normative importance of children and family life in Germany, evidence is provided that both approaches are valid in explaining preferences for government transfers.     

农村党建新课题:重点解决农民党员政治入党问题

农村党组织是新农村建设的领导核心,也是维护农村稳定的第一道防线。由于各种原因,目前农村部分党员政治信念淡薄、政治意志衰退等问题日渐突出。在坚持思想入党原则的基础上,明确提出党员政治入党的要求,采取有效措施重点提高农民党员政治素质,已经成为加强农村党建的新课题。     

集体行动困境的应对之道--以广州市老旧小区加装电梯工作为例

老旧小区加装电梯是一项面向特定空间、特定人群的准公共产品,居民协商是实现这一公共产品供给的集体行动,但居民的个体理性会导致实施时出现集体行动困境。广州是国内较早开展这项工作的城市,通过访谈和政策内容分析梳理广州市老旧小区加装电梯的工作历程,结合集体行动理论分析老旧小区加装电梯面临的协商规模和价值偏好的困境,并在此基础上进一步探讨居民协商集体行动困境的破解之策。广州市的经验不仅为其他城市老旧小区加装电梯提供了借鉴,也为今后通过制度设计促成居民集体行动、推进城镇老旧小区改造工作,形成社区治理的长效机制提供了有益的启示。