Tackling unemployment in China: state capacity and governance issues

Abstract

This paper considers China's state capacity and changing governance as revealed through its policies to tackle unemployment. Despite high levels of growth, economic restructuring has resulted in rising unemployment over the last decade. The Chinese state has been able to manage job losses from state enterprises, demonstrating some state capacity in relation to this sector and some persistent command economy governance mechanisms. However both design and implementation of policies to compensate and assist particular groups among the unemployed have been shaped by weak state capacity in several other areas. First, capacity to gather accurate employment data is limited, meaning local and central governments do not have a good understanding of the extent and nature of unemployment. Second, the sustainability of supposedly mandatory unemployment insurance schemes is threatened by poor capacity to enforce participation. Third, poor central state capacity to ensure local governments implement policies effectively leads to poor unemployment insurance fund capacity, resulting in provision for only a narrow segment of the unemployed and low quality employment services. Although the adoption of unemployment insurance (and its extension to employers and employees in the private sector), the introduction of a Labour Contract Law in 2007, and the delivery of employment services by private businesses indicate a shift towards the use of new governance mechanisms based on entitlement, contract and private sector delivery of public-sector goods, that shift is undermined by poor state capacity in relation to some of these new mechanisms.     

The story of two administrative states: state capacity in Hong Kong and Singapore

Abstract

Hong Kong and Singapore are both typical administrative states with an efficient administration and a vibrant market, which had achieved rapid economic growth in the past decades. This article examines the trajectory of their state capacity, highlighting recent problems and challenges. Based on a conceptual framework that captures and links up four dimensions – namely polity, bureaucracy, economy and civil society – their commonalities and differences in response are discussed. Their experience should be of particular relevance to transitional authoritarian states in Asia such as China, which faces similar challenges to reform in the arenas of politics, administration, economics and society.     

善治目标下的中国政府行政改革

善治是建立在政府与公民社会合作基础上的、谋求公共利益最大化的社会管理模式 ,适应了新时代背景下行政管理的需要。以善治为目标推进中国政府行政改革 ,是政府适应行政环境变化的必然要求 ,也是行政文明发展进步的必然要求。这一改革是政府制度的全面创新     

当代政府行政权力初探

在政府行政领域空前发展,政府行政功能全面统帅社会生活的今天,行政权力对整个社会发展的影响日益明显.因此,它一直成为近几年来学术界关注的热点.本文在分析论述政府行政权力的含义、表现、本质、特征及其作用的基础上,着重探讨了在当代社会中发挥我国政府行政权力作用应该创设的具体条件.     

试论执政能力与行政能力建设的关系

执政能力的提高是增强行政目的性的根本途径,是增强行政有效性的原生动力。政府行政是执政的直接载体,党执政的有效性最终通过政府行政的有效性来体现。加强执政能力建设,促进行政能力的提高要理性定位执政和行政的功能、转变执政党的执政方式和内部管理方式。行政能力建设要求确立有限政府、责任政府、效能政府三大目标,紧紧抓住公务员能力建设、行政伦理建设、行政法制建设三大支柱,把执政能力建设落到实处。     

WTO与当代中国区域行政构设

当前我国区域经济正面临着无序竞争、产业同构、重复投资等一系列问题 ,在WTO的背景下 ,这些问题显得尤为迫切。经验表明 ,单纯的市场机制已经不能妥善地解决这些问题 ,因此需要借助政府的力量来进行区域间的协调。为此 ,本文引入了区域行政的概念 ,并通过建立区域发展委员会的设想 ,对我国区域行政构设提出了可供选择的政策建议。     

Cross-border metropolitan governance: the multi-faceted state power

Metropolitan regions have become one of the most appropriate scales to define efficient governance networks for economic and territorial development. The state still is the key actor of these partnerships. Yet the question remains whether cross-border metropolitan regions represent a new point of reference that puts state power in question or whether they only reorganize it. The centrality of state power will be examined by looking at two networks of actors (public transport and territorial marketing) working at the Eurometropolis Lille–Kortrijk–Tournai. The results reveal that a triple-faceted state power has emerged to define and organize cross-border metropolitan management.     

理论创新与党的执政能力建设

加强党的执政能力建设是新时期党建的核心主题。理论创新是党的执政能力建设的先决条件,是执政理念和思维革新的前提,是保持党的先进性和创造力的决定因素。执政能力的提高,依赖于理论创新的推进。     

Achilles' heels of governance: Critical capacity deficits and their role in governance failures

This article assesses the usefulness of conceptions of policy capacity for understanding policy and governance outcomes. In order to shed light on this issue, it revisits the concept of governance, derives a model of basic governance types and discusses their capacity pre‐requisites. A model of capacity is developed combining competences over three levels of activities with analysis of resource capabilities at each level. This analysis is then applied to the common modes of governance. While each mode requires all types of capacity if it is to match its theoretically optimal potential, most on‐the‐ground modes do not attain their highest potential. Moreover, each mode has a critical type of capacity which serves as its principle vulnerability; its “Achilles' heel.” Without high levels of the requisite capacity, the governance mode is unlikely to perform as expected. While some hybrid modes can serve to supplement or reinforce each other and bridge capacity gaps, other mixed forms may aggravate single mode issues. Switching between modes or adopting hybrid modes is, therefore, a non‐trivial issue in which considerations of capacity issues in general and Achilles' heel capacities in particular should be a central concern.     

The growth and decentralisation of the modern democratic state

Abstract. That modern democratic governments have grown is beyond dispute, as is the fact that this growth has promoted intense misgivings amongst a number of writers, not least amongst the followers of Hayek. But an examination of the growth in governmental activity reveals that it is the sub-national level of government which has absorbed a greater share of governmental growth than the centre. The author continues by exploring a number of reasons for this development and concludes that the most likely explanations lie in the continued urbanisation of most western countries; the associated need for more governmental services; and in the possibility that taxpayers' resistance to tax increases is lower at the sub-national than it is at national level.     

全球化浪潮对国家主权的挑战

全球化的开放性与渗透性必然地要与国家主权的排他性和专属性发生碰撞.国家主权被削弱已是一种无情的现实.在全球化浪潮中处于弱势地位的发展中国家,必须正确认识全球化,积极参与,争取主动.     

The rise of the constitutional regulatory state in Colombia: The case of water governance

This article interprets the regulatory state in Colombia as the result of a dialectic process between transnational knowledge and domestic politics, which influence, transform, and inspire each other. Such a process results in an interesting constitutional variant of the regulatory state, in which neo‐constitutionalism becomes a counterbalance to the unchecked expansion of neo‐liberal regulatory practices. I, therefore, distinguish between neoliberal and constitutional regulatory states. As a result of neo‐constitutionalism, the domestic judiciary is empowered, and becomes a crucial actor to understand both the specific traits of this regulatory experience, and its interaction with global centers of power.     

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.     

Organized interests and administrative rulemaking: the state of Wisconsin's lobbyists and coalitions

This study examines interest groups undertaking lobbying activity focused on administrative rulemaking. The analysis utilizes a dataset composed of observations made during the 2009–2010 Wisconsin Legislative Session, including the entire population of groups lobbying during this time period. This research examines the participants, efforts, and coalitions utilized when groups engaged in lobbying activity related to rulemaking. Although scholars have examined interest group activity focused on rulemaking at the federal level, little work has focused on this behavior in the states. This study aims to further the understanding of this activity. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Building capacity in indigenous governance: Comparing the Australian and American experiences

This paper compares key aspects of governance structures for Indigenous populations in the United States and Australia. The paper focuses on policy coordination and administration, in particular the nodes of decision-making in the two countries in relation to government contracting and accountability. The U.S. approach to funding Indigenous organizations stems from the 1975 Indian Self-Determination and Education Act and its subsequent expansions. Through the development of contracting into permanent compacting via block grants, this approach builds established nodes of Indigenous government and facilitates whole-of-government coherence at the level of the American Indian tribe. The U.S. approach seems correlated with better performance and may lighten bureaucratic loads over the long term. The Australian model, on the other hand, seeks to create whole-of-government coherence through top-down financial accountability in a way that hampers the development of Indigenous political capacity. The paper traces the development of these practices through time and illustrates how they contribute to the fragmentation rather than growth of Indigenous political capacities. It suggests ways the Australian model could be improved even in the absence of fundamental reform by drawing on the contracting-to-compacting framework of longstanding U.S. practices.     

The modern revolutions of Iran: Civil society and state in the modernization process

This paper concerns two major transformations in the modern history of Iran: the Constitutional Revolution of 1905–1909 and the Islamic Revolution of 1977–1979. It focuses on the interplay of clergy, bazaris and state in making the two modern revolutions if Iran. The paper addresses a core question: why the clergy did not take political power in the Constitutional Revolution when Iran was a traditional society, yet succeed in doing so in a modern Iran (1977–1979)? It concerns largely questions of continuity and change of social institutions during a period of rapid authoritative modernization that significantly influenced the constellation of power between civil society and state} As a result of rapid modernization, traditional civil society, which was based on strong ties between the Shi'i clergy and the bazaris, drastically change and marginalized. Modern socio‐economic and administrative developments and the creation of new social groups, in turn, contributed to the formation of a modern civil society which periodically played a significant role in the political life of Iran. Socio‐economic changes brought about by Pahlavi Shahs’ (1924–1979) through rapid and authoritative modernization created new urban social groups who became important factors in making the Islamic Revolution of 1977–1979. In particular, the urban marginal groups, ‘the dispossessed’, engaged infrequent confrontations with authorities, and provided the radical clergy with a ‘social army’ for revolutionary mobilization and dominant influence.     

近代中国国家观念的形成与变化

传统中国并没有真正意义上的"国家"观念,占据主流意识的一直是君主专制制度下的"天下观"。正如李鸿章所说的"三千年未有之大变局",近代中国的发展是天朝上国旧梦破碎、国家被迫走上近代的过程。近代中国的国家观是形成于民族危机迫在眉睫的时刻,是近代先进的中国人在面对亡国灭种的危机时所形成的。辛亥革命成功推翻清王朝,使得孙中山的国家观脱颖而出,力压其他变革思潮,取代了传统的国家观。但是在经历袁世凯复辟后,共和走向灭亡。先进的中国人又开始求索新的国家观念与国家体制,在经历思想启蒙之后,中国开始用马克思主义理论指导革命,并且最终取得革命的胜利,选择了马克思主义国家观。     

The erosion of the administrative state under President Trump: Citizens' pushback against individual and institutional racism

President Trump encouraged bad state actors within the administrative state to contribute to inequities for civilians. We highlight how Trump's actions and rhetoric led to increased individual, institutional, and systemic racism and violence. As a response to this increased violence and rhetoric, we discuss the role civilians (including professional athletes) played in engaging in protests and the 2020 election. Given that more individuals voted in that election cycle, we emphasize the importance for public administration to adapt, evolve, and engage with new actors concerned with administrative action or inaction.     

可行能力视阈下的社会发展与行政选择

建立在可行能力基础上的社会发展对人的自由的实现和人的全面发展发挥着关键作用。可行能力视阈下的社会发展客观上要求行政实践处理好经济增长、文化教育、政治文明和生态环境保护之间的关系,以此实现社会的和谐发展和人的自由全面发展。