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.     

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。     

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.     

Northern Ireland: At the Crossroads of Political and Administrative Reform

Northern Ireland is at a political and administrative cross-roads. Politically the Good Friday Agreement has paved the way for devolved government, and administratively the system of Direct Rule from Westminster will come to an end. This article examines the major problems of accountability linked to Direct Rule government and sets out a policy agenda for the new Northern Ireland Assembly.     

西方国家行政体制改革的经验及其借鉴

从20世纪80年代末开始,西方国家掀起了改革政府的热潮。从西方国家改革的实践看,改革的内容主要是按照新公共管理的要求展开的:重新界定政府职能,将“掌舵”和“划桨”分开;运用市场原则,引进竞争机制;提高公共服务质量,强调顾客导向。西方国家行政体制改革可供我国借鉴的特点是:改革目标上的效率和质量取向;改革措施上的分权趋势;改革的良性循环。     

不同视阈下的官僚制改革：中西方行政体制改革比较

官僚制是适应工业社会的行政模式,然而,随着官僚制在全世界的发展和运用,其形式合理性和工具理性的弊端也日益暴露出来,中西方政府行政面临着官僚制危机的共同命运。于是,中西方国家都展开了官僚体制的改革尝试。由于处于不同的行政发展阶段和制度完善程度,中西方的官僚制改革又有不同的目标任务和路径选择:西方国家展开了“摒弃官僚制”的政府再造运动,而中国则开始了一场以“职能转变”为切入点和着力点的行政改革,以期实现完善政府官僚体制和转变行政典范这一双重的共时性行政发展目标。面临“全球行政改革时代,”西方政府再造对中国行政改革有借鉴意义,但也有不适用于中国的理念、方式和方法,所以,我们应该学会对西方政府的再造进行取舍考量。     

Public Sector Governance Reform and the Motivation of Street-Level Bureaucrats in Developing Countries

This article draws on health sector reform in Honduras to examine the mechanisms through which governance reforms shape the behavior of street-level bureaucrats. It combines insights from behavioral public administration with original data from lab-in-the-field workshops conducted with more than 200 bureaucrats to assess the relationship between decentralization and motivation. Findings show strong evidence that motivation, measured as self-sacrifice, is higher among bureaucrats in decentralized municipalities compared with bureaucrats in comparable centrally administered municipalities. Increased motivation is most pronounced in decentralized systems led by nongovernmental organizations compared with those led by municipal governments or associations. Additionally, the evidence suggests that higher motivation is related to changes in the composition of staff rather than socialization or changes among existing staff. Overall, this research helps move beyond indiscriminate calls for decentralization by highlighting the interplay between reform design and bureaucratic behavior, as well as the limitations of governance reforms in motivating more experienced bureaucrats.     

进一步深化审批制度的改革

我国行政审批制度经过前一阶段的推进和发展,已经初见成效.但改革中也出现不少问题.随着市场经济的发展,全球化进程的加快,以及我国加入WTO的逐步实现,审批制度改革、机关效能建设等操作性、程序性改革的重要性日渐突出,尤其对增强政府竞争力有很大的意义.     

Governance Structure and Administrative Corruption in Japan: An Organizational Network Approach

Traditional studies of the Japanese bureaucracy have emphasized effective governance through a close government–business nexus. Yet this network relation creates corruption, especially at a high level of administration. Adopting an organizational network approach, this article provides a critical analysis of the causality between network structures and administrative corruption. Examining financial and public works policies, this article finds that amakudari- and zoku-driven network relationships, which have been reinforced by sociocultural bases, are vertically and exclusively structured and substantiate corruption in administration. Policy making on the basis of such network relations not only results in mismanagement in administration and the distortion of the market disciplines but also delegitimizes the governance system by destroying public trust in government. This article suggests that bringing greater heterogeneity and citizen participation to administration through diversity management and e-government would reduce administrative corruption in Japanese governance.     

改革开放以来行政审批制度改革历史与发展逻辑

改革开放四十多年,行政审批制度改革经历了四个历史阶段,即下放经济领域自主权、地方探索创新、全面开启行政审批制度改革、放管服改革战略实施中深化行政审批制度改革阶段。在演进过程中行政审批制度改革呈现不同维度的逻辑特征,包括政治逻辑、动力逻辑、技术工具逻辑,既体现了已有行政审批制度改革的重要经验,也反映了存在的一些问题。为实现国家治理体系和治理能力现代化,促使国家治理效能新提升,行政审批制度改革要继续坚持党的领导的政治逻辑,同时全方位转向依法治国和法律驱动改革的法治化逻辑,从注重数量到注重权力结构质变的运行逻辑,从经济效率导向转为政府治理现代化目标导向逻辑。     

Reform Politics through the Creation of Inefficient Political Institutions: The Case of the 2007 Danish Administrative Reform

This article poses the question of whether reform politicians' pursuit of institutional goods may, under certain circumstances, lead to the creation of inefficient political institutions. The theory of weakening political actors through the creation of inefficient political institutions, as elaborated by Terry M. Moe, is applied in a comparative analysis of two main elements in the recent Danish administrative reform: the consolidation of 270 municipalities into 98 larger ones, and the creation of five new macro regions with special responsibilities. In contrast to the coherent institutional structure of the municipalities, the level of coherence in the regional reform elements is inappropriate and inefficient. The article shows that the different institutions in the municipalities and the regions can be interpreted as an attempt by the (national) reform parties to prevent other political actors from gaining access to future substantial, as well as institutional, goods.     

行动者:治理转型中的行政主体

管理行政下的行政主体只是主客二分意义上的行政实体,是不具有主体性的行政主体。后工业社会的发育、发展,使行政管理发生深刻变化,促使多元管理主体生成,多元治理主体的生成意味着管理主体自觉性的增强。然而,当众多管理主体的主体性不断增长时,也就意味着行政主体在多元化进程中走向了自己的反面,由此说明需要在后工业社会场景下用行动者来取代行政主体。后工业社会条件下的行动者是充满想象力、具有积极性和主动性的行动者,他们通过自己的行动在建构这个世界。     

高校思想政治理论课考试方式改革探析

思想政治理论课是当代大学生的必修课程,是帮助大学生树立正确的世界观、价值观、人生观的重要途径。随着社会发展,传统的考试模式已经无法很好地体现人才培养目标,亟须进行考试改革。针对当前考试中存在考试内容、考试形式、考试成绩构成等方面的不足,探讨了高校思想政治理论课考试改革的措施如下:增加实践考核内容;丰富考试方式;优化考试成绩构成;提高教师综合素质。     

行政管理体制改革背景下市县分等研究

市县分等是行政区划改革的一项重要内容,同时又是理论研究与改革实践中的薄弱方面。在现阶段它是推进我国行政机构改革,降低行政成本,提高行政管理效率的有效途径。通过市县分等可确定不同市、县可设机构的范围,治理地方自设机构的膨胀,为政府机构人员编制管理提供科学依据和明确的量化标准。此外,实现分等有助高层政府及时了解基层县市的基本状况,强化中央对地方的管理。市县分等必须综合考虑人口、面积、经济规模、区位及政治地位等因素。     

政治与行政二分法视野中的行政自由裁量权

基于对行政自由裁量权政治性本质的认识,传统的政治与行政二分法排斥与否认行政自由裁量权的存在,并主张对行政自由裁量权实施严格的政治控制.但政治与行政二分法本身的偏颇所在决定了这种行政自由裁量权政治控制理论的不切实际性.     

Influence of Voter Demographics and Newspaper in Shaping Political Party Choice in India: An Empirical Investigation

Choice of political party is an important decision a citizen faces in a democracy. In recent times, as democracies in many countries have matured, a number of studies are focusing on party and candidate choice and their various determinants. India, being the largest democracy, provides a fertile ground for such research. Accordingly, in this paper we concentrate on demographic characteristics, newspaper-reading habits of voters, and their political choice. To study this we have considered a very unique data set collected just before the watershed elections in the state of West Bengal in India, where the ruling Communist coalition was defeated after thirty-four years of power in the state. The survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire to collect information on demographic characteristics of voters and their political choice. The respondents were asked to indicate their party choice from among the three major political parties. As the literature shows that gender, age, education, income levels, marital status, occupational status, and choice of newspaper have significant impact on political choice, we have considered these as predictor variables for our study. From our study it is seen that among the demographic determinants, gender, marital status, and income of the respondents do not influence the choice of political party in our sample. However, occupation and newspaper choice of voters have significant impact on political party choice in our sample. In addition, we have observed that certain categories of age of voters significantly influence decision making of voters along with occupation and newspaper choice categories.