Understanding What Shapes a Polycentric Governance System

Recent research has shown that communication networks involving governmental and nongovernmental actors self‐organize based on how risk is perceived. According to the “risk hypothesis,” actors embedded in governance systems in which there is widespread risk of defection tend to form bonding structures, whereas those in low‐risk systems form bridging structures. A parallel strand of research proposes to study complex governance systems composed of multiple actors and the decision‐making forums in which they interact. In this article, the authors couple these research threads and show how bonding and bridging structures form when stakeholders participate in three complex governance systems of varying institutional strength. Findings suggest that the prevalence of one type of structure over the other depends on contextual variables such as the stability of the institutions and the occurrence of environmental focusing events that demand quick policy responses.     

Intermunicipal Cooperation in the Netherlands: The Costs and the Effectiveness of Polycentric Regional Governance

This article examines the effects of the structure of intermunicipal cooperatives (IMCs) on the perceived transaction costs and benefits of IMCs. Hypotheses based on a polycentric theory of regional governance are tested using data from Dutch municipalities. The findings are mixed. In line with polycentric theory, networks characterized by a multiplicity of territorial scales reduce IMC transaction costs. Contrary to polycentric theory, however, if IMCs are organized under a uniform legal regime, lower costs and higher benefits are reported. Structural factors that dominate the debate between polycentrism and monocentrism prove to be of limited importance. On the other hand, the results indicate support for the hypotheses that intermunicipal trust (as a cultural variable) contributes to perceptions of effective and efficient cooperation.     

Advanced Metering Infrastructure Deployment in the United States: The Impact of Polycentric Governance and Contextual Changes

Advanced metering infrastructure provides the first building block in smart grids by empowering customers and utilities with real‐time information regarding energy use. It is a key element in the U.S. government's push for electric grid modernization. Using a panel dataset for 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia over the years 2007–2012, we evaluate the impacts of a polycentric governance system and socioeconomic contexts on states' performance in smart metering deployment. We find that the advanced metering technological change in the United States has been exclusively created by the interdependencies and interactions between different layers of government. High‐tech industry is the only socioeconomic factor that has a negative impact on smart meter deployment, whereas other factors, such as pressures from energy consumers and environmental groups, and electric grid conditions, have negligible impacts.     

城乡关系与地方治理改革

关于城乡关系的理论流派可分为自然发展论、城市偏向论、乡村偏向论、城乡统筹论四种类型。目前,中国城乡关系在制度安排上具有显著的城市偏向性,导致市场分工和区位因素形成的城乡差距进一步扩大。为统筹城乡发展,地方治理亟待推进行政体制和公共政策改革,推进市县分治,实施次级城市发展战略,保障城市与县域经济拥有平等的发展权利,保障生产要素自由流动,保障乡村的基本公共服务需求。     

Blurring Boundaries: The Integration of NGOs into Governance in Kenya

This article examines the impact of the proliferation of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) on governance in Kenya. Looking specifically at service provision, it analyzes how the growth of NGOs has begun to change the way decisions are made and policy is formulated. In so doing, the article explores shifting NGO–government relations over time. The governance of service provision has become a complex, intertwined affair in which NGOs sit on national policymaking committees, government integrates NGO plans and budgets into national policy, and government actors learn from and copy NGOs' participatory, accountable approach. Through (1) the integration of former NGO leaders in government, (2) increasing the variety of voices heard in government decision making, (3) lobbying by NGOs, and (4) mimicry of NGOs by government, governance of Kenyan service provision has begun to become more democratic. Through such changes, developing countries are witnessing a blurring of the line between public and private.     

Good Enough Governance: Poverty Reduction and Reform in Developing Countries

The good governance agenda is unrealistically long and growing longer over time. Among the multitude of governance reforms that "must be done" to encourage development and reduce poverty, there is little guidance about what's essential and what's not, what should come first and what should follow, what can be achieved in the short term and what can only be achieved over the longer term, what is feasible and what is not. If more attention is given to sorting out these questions, "good enough governance" may become a more realistic goal for many countries faced with the goal of reducing poverty. Working toward good enough governance means accepting a more nuanced understanding of the evolution of institutions and government capabilities; being explicit about trade-offs and priorities in a world in which all good things cannot be pursued at once; learning about what's working rather than focusing solely on governance gaps; taking the role of government in poverty alleviation seriously; and grounding action in the contextual realities of each country.     

长三角地区多中心及其共生与协同发展研究

长三角作为我国最重要的经济发展中心与财富增长中心,是中国与亚太地区的国际门户,是各界关注的焦点.在区域发展转型与一体化进程加速的宏观背景下,以城市为载体的多中心经济板块与多中心结构,正在成为长三角区域协同发展的重要平台,多中心间的关联与互动、合作与竞争成为影响和制约区域协同共生发展的重要因素,也是促进多中心区域协同发展的重要推力.采用经济关联性、区位熵、区位断裂点等确定长三角空间关系,利用共生理论分析了长三角多中心共生机理、结构与模式,提出了基于集群与组团、城市化、创新、梯度与辐射域等为主体的多中心共生协同发展思路.     

Is Governance Reform a Catalyst for Development?

International development agencies contend developing countries can boost rates of economic growth by introducing “good governance” measures. However, close analysis of specific governance reforms and economic turning points in the United States (when it was a developing country), Argentina, Mauritius, and Jamaica suggests that the agencies underestimate the time and political effort required to change governance, and overestimate the economic impact. Counter to optimistic claims about how much “institutions matter,” these carefully selected cases imply that greater transparency, accountability, and participation are often a result, rather than a direct cause of faster development. Furthermore, they show that closed institutions may be a satisfactory platform for rapid growth, provided those institutions open over time. Policymakers need to understand these processes better before counting on governance reforms to be the springboard out of poverty for most developing countries today.     

Governance Reform in Thailand: Questionable Assumptions, Uncertain Outcomes

This article examines the nature of governance reform in Thailand. The argument is that Thai citizens are not especially benefiting from the public reform initiatives of Thai governments because government reformers made fourquestionable assumptions about reform which have in turn produced uncertain outcomes and provided the opportunity for government reformers to avoid responsibility for their reform choices. First, the reformers support the belief that a global reform paradigm with ready-made reform packages exists which can be easily transplanted in the Thai public sector. Second, the reformers prefer to define success largely as reform output rather than reform outcomes or long term reform consequences. Third, Thai government reformers have overemphasized the efficiency aspects of the new public management at the expense of other governance goals. Fourth, governance reform in Thailand has been portrayed as a managerial problem instead of a political one. The author supports his arguments by drawing on theoretical debates in the international literature on administrative reform, and relating these debates to the Thai case. Governance reform in Thailand is still at an early stage, but the role of unintended consequences is important to administrative reform. Furthermore, the Thai case may reflect governance reform in other countries as well.     

Meta‐Governance of Partnerships for Sustainable Development: Actors' Perspectives from Kenya

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development promotes multi‐stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) as a means of implementation while at the same time putting renewed focus on the need for national‐level ownership and implementation. Despite the fact that an ever growing body of literature on the merits and drawbacks of MSPs delineates several success conditions for partnerships, efforts to translate this knowledge into national‐level meta‐governance for MSPs remain marginal to date. This study outlines the benefits the literature alleges for such “meta‐governance” frameworks, before it uses a country‐level study with a series of stakeholder interviews to take a closer look at national‐level context conditions and lessons learned with regard to two water partnerships in Kenya. Our findings suggest that to date the existing meta‐governance for partnerships in Kenya is rather weak and fragmented. Yet respondents support the view that MSPs could benefit from such a framework, in particular regarding local ownership of MSPs and the potential to scale successful cases. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Collaborative Governance in the Reform of Western Australia's Alcohol and Other Drug Sector

Collaborative governance involves processes and structures for policy development and decision making with particular relevance for health and social services. We examined collaborative governance in the reform of Western Australia's alcohol and other drug sector, applying Emerson et al.'s (2012) integrative framework. A documentary review and group interviews with government, sector, and consumer representatives were involved. Contextual factors included increased service funding, and the development of a partnership approach. Drivers for collaboration involved leadership and financial incentives for policy implementation. Key stakeholders across government and the sector reported a mutually supportive and constructive relationship and increased capacity, and they shared an agenda for change. The integrative framework was a useful structure for the explication of collaborative governance, although financial arrangements were not addressed.     

国家治理体系中政策审计体制改革研究

作为国家治理体系中的一项基础性制度安排,政策审计在提高政府政策能力、推动责任政府建设、提升政府治理效能等方面具有不可替代的功能。国家治理体系现代化,要求各级地方政府与审计机关,在推动政策审计的独立性定位、保障机制供给等管理体制方面,以及在政策审计对象遴选、标准体系的建构和结果反馈等组织机制方面,进行系统性、结构性改革和创新。在政策审计理论与实务中,应强化对管理体制和组织机制的研究讨论与实践探索,提升政策审计的政治性、独立性和专业性,从而建构一个契合国家治理体系需求的现代化政策审计体制机制。     

西方国家治理变革及对我国行政改革的启示

当代西方国家行政改革的基本趋势是治理型的公共行政,与传统的行政模式相比较,治理不仅具有全新的内涵,而且正在成为指导行政改革的一种新理念。在治理理论指导下,西方国家掀起了公共行政改革的浪潮。中国有必要借鉴西方发达国家行政改革的实践和经验,以先进的行政理念重塑政府,构建与现代社会相适应的政府行政模式。     

Responsible Governance and Problems of Administrative Reform: Experiences of Developing Countries in Asia

In the 1980s many developing and newly industrializing countries in Asia expressed great interest in administrative reform. Compelling reasons for public reform in these nations arise from causes different from those in developed nations. Among Asian developing nations, government reform is intrinsic to and inextricable from crises in governance. Within the context of developing politics, a reliable and competent government is sine qua non of national stability; and, more importantly, this largely decides the tenure of a governing group. Its ability to remain in power will be determined by the efficaciousness of public authority. Against these backgrounds, this article discusses the five conference papers of the Eastern Regional Organization of Public Administration (EROPA) of 1991. It examines both similarities and differences among four countries in their efforts to reform public administration. This review suggests that in developing Asia, the quest for administrative reform emanates from crises in governance. Reform goes beyond exploring ways to improve the quality of public management.     

Globalization, Governance, and the Political-Economy of Public Policy Reform in East Asia

In the wake of the crisis that developed in East Asia during 1997, perceptions of the region have been transformed. Critics claim that East Asian political practices and economic structures must be reformed if the region is to prosper in an era of globalization. In short, the region must adopt a different sort of public policy, one associated with an influential agenda of "good governance." This paper critically assesses this discourse and the predominately "Western" assumptions that underpin it. It is argued that, not only is this reformist agenda likely to be resisted by powerful vested interests, but the institutional infrastructure to support such a style of governance is inadequately developed in East Asia.     

Policy Entrepreneurship and Institutional Change: Multilevel Governance of Central Banking Reform

Recent studies on institutional theory and the public policy field called for efforts to pry open the black box of institutional and policy change. This article offers a response to this call. It demonstrates that historical and discursive institutionalist approaches are complementary to explain how and why institutional change occurs. In addition, it shows how these approaches can add value to and benefit from the public policy and administration fields that seek to explain policy change and success. In particular, it emphasizes the interactions between structure and agency that contribute to the change. The empirical finding is based on qualitative analysis of central banking reform in Turkey. It suggests that institutional and policy change is more likely to occur when policy entrepreneurs, with joint membership in domestic and transnational policy communities, mediate various ideas and discourse within and among these communities in a punctuated institutional equilibrium.     

Polycentric Systems and Multiscale Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in the Built Environment

Addressing climate change requires consideration of mitigation and adaptation opportunities at multiple spatial scales. This is particularly true in the built environment, defined here to include individual buildings, neighborhoods, and the spaces between. The current U.S. political environment portends fewer resources and coordinating services for mitigation and adaptation at the federal level, however, reinforcing the relevance and necessity of actions at subnational levels. In this study, we evaluate the applicability of a polycentric model of governance to the implementation of mitigation and adaptation practices, as well as the presence of polycentric systems in the built environment. We assemble a database of practices with the potential to achieve both mitigation and adaptation objectives, as well as those that may be cross‐purposed or that may achieve one but not the other. We review practices to gauge the applicability of a polycentric model of governance to mitigation and adaptation practices in the built environment, and examine the attributes of three existing adaptation and/or mitigation programs to assess the extent to which they exhibit polycentric attributes. We conclude with recommendations for a broader research agenda, including efforts to develop more in‐depth examinations into individual programs and comparative analysis of performances of different governance attributes.     

改革开放的时空格局——国家治理体系和治理能力现代化视域下的分析

改革开放40余年,我国发展取得全方位历史性成就。在国家治理体系和治理能力现代化视域下,立足时代背景的变幻、主要矛盾的变化、经济制度的变迁及总体目标的嬗变等维度,审视当前改革开放所处的时空格局。“以扩大开放促进深化改革,以深化改革促进扩大开放”,是对改革开放以来两个不同时期的科学判断,为今后面对扩大开放所遇到的前所未有的复杂局面和艰巨任务、如何发挥好改革的突破和先导作用、依靠改革应对变局与开拓新局,提供了根本的发展理路。