'Appropriate' Policy Knowledge, and Institutional and Governance Implications

The papers in this special section of AJPA are the product of a symposium held in Brisbane in February 2003, which was jointly sponsored by the School of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Queensland and the Queensland Department of Premier and Cabinet. Three papers were delivered. David Adams, from the Victorian Public Service, delivered a paper entitled 'Usable knowledge and public policy'. Wayne Parsons, from the University of London, gave a paper 'Not just steering but weaving: Relevant knowledge and the craft of building policy capacity'. Randal Stewart, a policy consultant based in Sydney, gave a paper entitled 'Public sector reform knowledge production'. The purposes of this paper are to highlight salient points from the papers and to assess briefly the institutional and governance implications of taking at last some steps beyond the currently prevailing rationalist approaches to policy and governance.     

Institutional Change Through Policy Learning: The Case of the European Commission and Research Policy

Research initiatives to enhance knowledge‐based societies demand regionally coordinated policy approaches. By analyzing the case of the European Commission, Directorate‐General Research and Innovation, this study focuses on examining the cognitive mechanisms that form the foundation for institutional transformations and result in leadership positions in regional governance. Drawing on policy learning theories, the study emphasizes specific mechanisms of institutional change that are often less noticeable but can gradually lead to mobilizing diverse groups of stakeholders. Through historical and empirical data, this study shows the importance of policy learning through communication processes, Open Method of Coordination initiatives, and issue framing in creating a stronger foundation for policy coordination in European research policy since the 2000s.     

激励制度、问责约束与地方治理转型

正向激励与负向问责的二元维度,为理解中国地方政府的治理偏好提供了一个分析框架。地方分权与官员晋升锦标赛等正向激励制度,为地方政府促进经济增长提供了强劲动力,而人大监督、司法监督、社会监督等负向问责约束松弛,导致地方治理存在发展失衡、公共服务供给水平偏低等问题。提升地方政府的公共服务意识和能力,改进公共服务供给及质量,提升地方治理的回应性和公平性,关键在于加强责任政府的制度建设,强化自下而上及横向的问责约束。     

Social Capital and Local Governance: Exploring the Institutional Design Variable

This article argues that Robert Putnam's social capital thesis is too society-centred and undervalues state agency and associated political factors. It explores the role of institutional design in explaining how governments can shape the development of social capital and its potential influence upon democratic performance. New Labour's programme of 'democratic renewal' within British local government provides an excellent opportunity to assess the relevance of institutional design to arguments about social capital and democracy. We propose that prospects for the creation and mobilization of social capital may depend as much upon the process as the content of institutional design.     

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.     

Testing the Discourse of Declining Policy Capacity: Rail Policy and the Department of Transport

It has been observed that countries that implemented new public management (NPM) reforms are currently witnessing growing complaints about a decline in the policy capacity of their public services. Australia is a part of this trend with public sector leaders increasingly voicing concern about policy capacity decline within the Australian Public Service (APS). This article sets out to examine whether there is an empirical basis for this discourse and to assess allegations that NPM reforms have contributed to any related shifts. It draws on rail policy and the Department of Transport as its case study. It finds that the reforms transformed role of the department in a way that enhanced strategic policy capacity. However, the reforms also introduced a number of structural impediments that make it difficult for the new role to be effectively executed .     

The Evolution of a Global Labor Governance Regime

During the last decade, the approach by businesses and governments toward labor and social issues at the global level has fundamentally changed. Industrial relations are rapidly internationalizing by developing new actors and forms of governance to deal with the regulation of labor. This article looks at the evolution of self‐regulatory standards in the global labor governance debate. Key is that notwithstanding problems with the lacking legal framework of global regulation and enforceability, patterns of local self‐regulation, norm‐setting, and international codes lead not only to higher expectations of the behavior of transnationally operating firms but also to an indirect pattern of regulation. The article argues that particularly the adoption of the core labor standards by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the setup of the Global Compact by the UN serve as points of convergence. A plethora of voluntarist initiatives that converge over time toward a shared understanding of labor standards is part of the transformation of global labor governance institutions.     

地方政府创新与治理变迁——中国地方政府创新案例的比较研究

经验表明,20世纪90年代以来,社会转型带来的权威危机和管理性危机对中国地方政府公共权力结构与功能等方面形成了严峻的挑战。面对危机情势,各级地方政府在公共管理的权力结构、制度与技术安排上进行了多项治理创新,通过对地方政府的治理创新的比较分析,笔者认为,中国地方政府的创新实践推动了地方治理变迁,地方治理正趋于取代地方管理。但是,这种可选择性替代路径仍然是地方政府主导型的,最终起作用的仍然是地方政府。地方政府的创新符合整体性改革的发展方向,并将有力地推动改革向纵深发展。     

Institutional Congruence, Ideas, and Anticorruption Policy: The Case of China and the United States

While international comparisons of anticorruption policies abound, whether these policies are transferable and how they change inside national boundaries remain debatable. Kaifeng Yang of Florida State University proposes an institutional framework that emphasizes the role of congruence and ideas in institutional change. In comparing China to the United States, the author concludes that anticorruption institutional change is path dependent, as it is nested in fundamental political structures and meta-narratives. Professor Yang proposes the possibility that new ideas may cause gradual changes with radical results.     

公共政策体制与社会公正

公共政策对于社会公正的实现具有重要意义,这种意义首先发生于体制层面。在界定公共政策体制内涵的基础上,通过实现社会公正的责任体系找到公共政策体制与社会公正之间的关联逻辑,并从公共政策体制构成出发分析二者关联的具体内容,同时从宏观上考虑到公共政策在实现社会公正中所遭遇的悖论,提出：体制性思考是解决悖论的钥匙,良好的公共政策体制有利于实现社会公正。     

常规与非常规:地方治理学习型政策变迁的模式比较

地方治理存在常规与非常规两种学习型政策变迁模式。常规学习型政策变迁基于政策工具使用而生成,非常规学习型政策变迁基于公共危机应对而生成,两种模式受布局要求、治理结构和政策体制的制约,同时又反过来强化或重塑治理结构和政策体制,促进或促退地方治理效能,巩固或侵蚀国家治理效能。基于此,可以采取如下优化策略：坚持公共治理,建立“以人民为中心”的治理观;摆脱思维定式,找到规定动作与自选动作的平衡点;改变行为惯习,破解常规治理与非常规治理的悖论困局;采用创新手段,塑造技术治理和治理技术的融合格局。     

再综合化：常态与应急态协同治理制度体系研究

基于社会形态特征的学理性分析以及常态和应急态下的治理行为特性比较研究发现,协同治理理论框架是实现跨阶段协同的重要基点,需要围绕多主体之间的信息共享、协同决策、协同规则、协同行动、监测评估等过程要素进行系统建设。要做好顶层设计,建立多要素多环节多情景的协同治理结构;深化结构性改革,完善政府组织制度体系;深化放管服改革,以健全机制为抓手加快制度性协同创新;强化制度保障体系建设,为协同治理赋能;建设"五位一体"的社会协同体系。     

Devolution as Process: Institutional Structures,State Personnel and Transport Policy in the United Kingdom

Abstract. Devolution has been described as a key ‘global trend’ over recent decades as governments have decentralised power and responsibilities to subordinate regional institutions. UK devolution is characterised by its asymmetrical nature with different territories granted different institutional arrangements and powers. This paper seeks to examine the role of state personnel in mobilising the new institutional machinery and managing the process of devolution, focusing on transport policy. The research presented shows a clear contrast between London and Northern Ireland, on the one hand, and Scotland and Wales, on the other, in terms of the effectiveness of political leaders in creating clear policy priorities and momentum in transport.     

城市轨道交通公共安全保卫社会化研究

目前,我国城市轨道交通建设发展迅猛,公共安全需求日臻迫切,安保工作理念亟待更新,进一步推动城市轨道交通系统安保社会化发展是保证安保工作成效的必然选择和必由之路。应在明确公安机关职责定位、优化警务模式的基础上,引入第三方安保力量,完善相应法律法规,优化教育培训和管理机制,形成合力,共同维护城轨交通安全秩序。     

全球治理视阈下我国外交的应对方略

全球治理是应对全球化的一种反应,它的出现是对传统国际关系的挑战。全球治理已是不可逆转的历史趋势,它给中国的内政外交带来了难以估量的冲击和影响。我国外交必须制定出应对方略:坚持发展中国家的属性与定位,统筹协调好大国关系,打牢同发展中国家互信合作的基础,推进周边区域治理,开展好公共外交,善用并倚重各种全球治理平台,参与全球化,推进全球治理。     

政策谣言的生发与治理

政策谣言即未经证实合乎政策事实的民间政策传言;只有那些完全缺乏政策事实的政策传言才是真正的政策谣言,其他的属于准政策谣言。政策谣言的生发诱因主要包括政策价值的重要性、政策信息的模糊性、社会环境和个体心理、政府公信力缺失等多个方面。互联网和新媒体时代的到来,助推了政策谣言的传播;政策谣言的典型传播机制主要有社会流瀑、群体极化和偏颇吸收等。政府应从五个方面提升政府的政策谣言治理能力和水平:增强政府公信力;强化政策的宣传、解读与回应;提升政务信息公开水平;建立健全辟谣工作系统,分类治理政策谣言;加强对新媒体信息传播的监管。     

政策能力与国家公共治理

最近二三十年以来,由于市场经济放任模式一再出现危机以及失灵现象,国家公共政策能力问题摆到了政府和学者们的面前。政策能力成为当前各国政府关注的热点,也成为学术研究的重点。然而。政策能力并不是孤立的’它与国家能力、行政能力之间存在着内在的关联性。它们之间既存在上下结构关系,又存在着相互的联动关系。这三个方面的能力共同构成了所谓的公共治理能力。不同国家对政策能力自然具有各自的评价标准,更应具有形成这方面能力的支持系统。论文对以上这些复杂的关系做一尝试性的梳理。