The county perspective on intergovernmental relations and government capacity

This analysis examines the issues of state and federal responsiveness and state and local government capacity from the perspective of county officials. Using data from a national survey of county administrators, elected executives, and commission chairpersons, the study finds that county officials are: (1) very confident of their own capacities to respond to local problems, but not as confident of local fiscal capacities; (2) very concerned about the responsiveness of state governments, particularly state legislatures, to local needs; and (3) not confident of the responsiveness of federal government to local needs either, but desirous of federal fiscal support. The assessments of state responsiveness appear related to state efforts to expand the policy making, taxing, and borrowing authority of their county governments.     

The trend of relations between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean from the perspective of Bi-regional Summits

<正>Nowadays,multilateral consultative mechanism is gradually becoming a mainstream approach in the contemporary international system.As one of the most important international collective player,the European Union(EU) has been engaging in multilateral cooperation and consultation since its inception.It has also been promoting a plural world through advocacy and action.The EU and the Latin America/Caribbean(LAC) Countries summits are considered a stability mechanism for promoting bi-regional dialogues.Nevertheless,after 10 years of bi-regional strategic partnership construction,the EU and LAC relations are currently experiencing a difficult phase,suggesting it is time to reform.The purpose of this paper is to analyze the advantages as well as the challenges to EU-LAC relations from the perspective of bi-regional summits,and to assess the short-term trend of their relations in the near future     

中国特色外交:动力、潜力与魅力

作为建设本国特色社会主义的重要组成部分,中国外交在不断地发展、充实和丰富.世人关注中国外交的焦点,一是它的动力,二是它的潜力,三是它的魅力.这三者恰恰构成了中国外交的特色.     

南奥塞梯局势与俄格关系

最近,格鲁吉亚与地方政权南奥塞梯之间的冲突一度升温.7月6日,格军警拦截并扣留了向俄驻南奥地区维和部队运输武器物资的俄军车辆;教小时后,俄和南奥维和部队还以颜色,在当地扣留了格军维和部队指挥官凯巴兹上校及与其同行的格军维和士兵;7月7日,南奥武装人员解除了该地区一格族人居住村内50名格维和士兵武装;7月8日,格政府军与南奥武装在利阿赫夫斯基峡谷发生冲突,造成2名格士兵受伤,1人被俘.     

The agency perspective and the future of local government administration

Much of the recent political dialogue in the U. S. A. has included criticism of government bureaucracy.An especially significant response to this criticism was developed by Gary L. Wamsley and others in what has been c:alled the ‘Blacksburg Manifesto.’ They use the concept of the Agency Perspective to provide a basis for the legitimacy of a role in the governance process for public administration.

This essay explores the application of the concept of the Agency Perspective, which was developed primallly with reference to the national government, to local government and considers the implications of the Agency) Perspective for the future role of local government administration.

The essay concludes that the concept of the Agency Perspective fits local governments as well. If these arguments meet with widespread acceptance, this suggests a growing, more active role for public administration in U. S. local governments.     

The national performance review in perspective

The National Performance Review was one of the most ambitious, far-reaching and thoroughly prepared management reform efforts of the twentieth century. This article examines some of the main themes and principles of the NPR. It begins with the Clinton administration's marketing of the effort and goes on to analyze the arguments of its major scholarly critics. It then presents the more practical public management critiques of the NPR implementation. The article concludes with a comparison of the most important contributions and drawbacks of the total effort and delineates the public management dilemmas that the NPR presents to federal managers.     

The challenge of design of intergovernmental relations in economies in transition

The governments of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union are at a crucial juncture in their movement from highly centralized command economies to more decentralized market economies. While there is a belief in these countries that decentralization brings greater economic efficiency, the reality is that such a transition is a difficult process. This paper examines what types of administrative reforms are needed for the decentralization process, how far along the countries are with respect to these reforms, and what reforms are missing. As we discuss, many of the necessary administration reforms are missing and we argue that more attention must be paid to these elements for successful decentralization of these governments.

This paper examines the recent experience and reform needs of the key administrative aspects of the design of intergovernmental relations in countries in transition in Eastern Europe and in the former Soviet Union. There is a widespread realization in all of these countries that decentralizing government will help increase efficiency in the public sector just as privatization will improve efficiency in their economies. Decentralization of government operations is also attractive as a way to cement a democratic form of government. Despite the appearances of the existence of an already decentralized system, such as in the case of the Soviet Union, this experiment started in practically all cases with a lack of institutions and experience on how decentralized government operations should be organized.

As different as these countries are, there are many similarities in the reform process they are following in order to decentralize government structure. While the basic components of a decentralized system of government are emerging in many of these countries the structure of government has not fully evolved in a manner that can support such a decentralized system. Often, governments remain structured along a vertical hierarchy: information, budgetary authority, and revenue pass from the central government down to subnational levels of government while little communication or interaction exists at a horizontal level. In general, the assignment of revenue and expenditure has not been clearly defined among the two or three levels of government, central government transfers continue to occur in a relatively ad hoc manner, and the entire budgeting system still rests in many cases on more or less formal system of negotiations and bargaining among the different levels of government. There has been some change in this structure in certain countries. Over the last three years, both Poland and Hungary have legally increased the automony of subnational governments. In 1994 in Russia a new and more transparent system of intergovernmental grants has been established between the federal government and the regions. In 1994 also, Latvia introduced a more transparent formula-driven, transfer formula for the regional and municipal governments.

The focus of this paper is to develop a “blue print” for necessary changes in organization and administration of intergovernmental relations in countries in transition. While many experts have recently been discussing the public finance policy components of this new, evolving relationship among levels of government, less attention has been paid to the structural and administrative challenges and the information design issues that must be met in order to develop and support a system of intergovernmental relations.

The paper is organized as follows: First we review the major responsibilities and their allocation among levels of government, the assignment of revenue sources, and the system of transfers. We then turn to a discussion of the current experience of Eastern European and NIS countries in the context of the structural components of an intergovernmental fiscal system. Next, we analyze the organizational reforms that are necessary for the efficient functioning of a decentralized system of government in the economies in transition. Finally we “rate” the transition economies in relation to their current design of the system of intergovernmental relations and support mechanisms.     

“新、老欧洲”与美欧关系

“新、老欧洲”的概念，是美国前国防部长拉姆斯菲尔德在伊拉克战争期间提出的，他把法、德等反对美对伊动武的欧洲国家称为“老欧洲”，把积极支持美国对伊政策的中东欧国家称为“新欧洲”，并称“北约欧洲的重心已经转移到了新欧洲”。在伊拉克战争问题上严重的政策分歧不仅使欧盟在共同外交政策上陷入了“空前的危机”，也使美国和欧洲大陆主要大国的关系滑入了二战以来最深的谷底。2004年5月欧盟正式接纳10个中东欧新成员国后，“新欧洲”成为了美国在欧洲保持影响的首要依托。     

美欧关系的变化与趋势

对于伊拉克战争的立场，使法德等传统盟友与美国的关系一度趋冷，但2005年以来，随着德、英、法等欧洲大国领导人的换届，美欧关系开始转暖，这种发展趋势值得关注；     

冷战后国际格局的两重性

冷战后的世界既没有形成新的单极格局,也未形成多极格局.现在的世界是一个多极化和单极化两种趋势并存的世界.它既带有单极化的倾向,也具有多极化的发展趋势.但世界终将实现多极格局.     

Historical origins of the party-army relations in the Soviet Union and China

It is established that Party-army relation followed a "separated" pattern in the Soviet Union as opposed to an "infused" pattern in China. This article explores the historical origin of this difference in the revolutionary periods. By analyzing the biographies of communist military elites, it argues that this discrepancy took shape before the revolutionary takeover and resulted from the differentiated intensities of warfare across Russia and China. In China, the numerous civil wars and military defeats, radicalized the old military structure and boosted societal militarization; thus, eroding the mutual exclusion between the military and revolutionaries. The effect was lesser in Tsarist Russia than in prerevolutionary China, making the old military a conservative and professional corporate that the Bolsheviks could not completely subordinate to Party control.