E‐government and developing countries: an overview

E‐governance is more than just a government website on the Internet. The strategic objective of e‐governance is to support and simplify governance for all parties; government, citizens and businesses. The use of ICTs can connect all three parties and support processes and activities. In other words, in e‐governance electronic means support and stimulate good governance. Therefore, the objectives of e‐governance are similar to the objectives of good governance. Good governance can be seen as an exercise of economic, political, and administrative authority to better manage affairs of a country at all levels. It is not difficult for people in developed countries to imagine a situation in which all interaction with government can be done through one counter 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without waiting in lines. However to achieve this same level of efficiency and flexibility for developing countries is going to be difficult. The experience in developed countries shows that this is possible if governments are willing to decentralize responsibilities and processes, and if they start to use electronic means. This paper is going to examine the legal and infrastructure issues related to e‐governance from the perspective of developing countries. Particularly it will examine how far the developing countries have been successful in providing a legal framework.     

Governing Without Law or Governing Without Government? New‐ish Governance and the Legitimacy of the EU

The way the EU is governed and the way such governance is perceived contributes centrally to the legitimacy of the European enterprise. This legitimacy underpins both the acceptance and the effects of EU activity. Legitimacy is a product of the way in which decisions are taken, and the nature and quality of such decisions. Pressures created by concerns about both forms of legitimacy affecting EU decision making partially explain the turn in legal scholarship away from the more traditional preoccupation with the analysis of legislative instruments and case-law, towards a more broadly based conception of governance which involves the examination of a more diverse range of processes and instruments. This article offers an analysis of the parameters of newness in governance. The overall argument is that some of the more innovative governance modes are not so new, whilst more recent and celebrated modes, although displaying elements of newness, are, perhaps, not that innovative. The focus of the new governance in the EU is largely on governing without law, rather than the more radical governing without government; hence the suggestion that we are experiencing only 'new-ish governance'. The article asks whether a limited conception of new governance is inevitable given the legitimacy constraints within which the EU operates, or whether the potential for developing a broader conception of governance, through wider participation and involvement of non-governmental governing capacities, might bolster legitimacy through both better processes and better outcomes.     

公共治理困境与公法学的理性回应

公共治理是公共行政领域一种方兴未艾的模式,但公共治理不是万能的,也存在治理"失灵",存在政府"空心化",公共行政"能力赤字"、问责过程的复杂化、成本—收益计算模糊化、公众对政府的信任度降低等困境。公共治理不仅是一个政治学术语,也是重要的法学范畴,主要表现为公共治理以依法治理为前提,是公民参与、协商合作的持续互动,是追求平等、权利、尊严的过程。所以,面对公共治理的困境,法学策略显得尤为重要,应当彰显公共利益,树立有限政府理念,增强政府核心能力;厘清责任链,建立责任政府,加强非政府组织的责任承担能力;引入成本—收益核算机制,提高公共治理的效率;减少宪法规定的社会权种类,加强国家对民生的保障力度。     

都市生态治理中党政干部领导力探讨

推进都市生态治理是促进区域经济社会协调可持续发展的应有之义.本文以A省S市都市生态治理中党政干部领导力为基点,阐释了S市党政干部在生态治理中发挥的核心作用,同时也发现其中面临领导动力弱化、领导效益损耗、领导协同失效、领导制度选择性执行等困局.因此,应从增强都市生态治理中党政干部领导自洽力、提升领导转换力、激活领导制度力...     

Regulating information flows: Is it just? Insider trading and mandatory-disclosure rules from a free-market perspective

Much of Henry Manne’s work on insider trading emphasised that this practice enhances quick dissemination of information and ultimately efficiency. In this paper, we draw attention to the fact that regulating insider trading encroaches upon the foundations of a free-market economy, and boils down to a question of envy, rather than justice. In particular, there is nothing undesirable, fraudulent or shameful in a process through which selected agents (the insiders) transform dispersed information into specialised knowledge, and make use of it. One may be envious that insiders make a profit or avoid a loss thanks to their privileged position. Yet, insiders do not steal any information and do not violate any property right. Their only constraint is an explicit contractual agreement with their employer. In that case, the government might be required to enforce the contract. Regulation would be illegitimate.     

风险社会视域下对食品安全风险性的认知与监管

在风险社会里,技术的发展在给人类自然环境带来风险的同时,也给食品安全带来了风险。食品安全风险既有对人的健康权、生命权的漠视,更存在政府与公民之间的公共利益机制失衡和政府与企业之间的治理机制失衡问题,这些机制失衡主要表现在食品安全问题对国家安全性和政府公信力的影响上。因此,既需要通过加强政府监管来防范食品安全风险,提升消费者、生产者对食品安全风险的认知度,进一步建立健全食品安全风险控制系统,也需要正确处理消费者与企业利益的关系。     

政府数字化转型影响因素分析

我国正处于推进国家治理现代化和新一代信息技术革命的交汇期,推动政府数字化转型是实现国家治理体系和治理能力现代化的必然要求.本文借鉴既有研究,借助TOE框架,运用层次分析法和模糊综合评价法,从技术、组织以及环境层面对我国政府数字化转型的影响因素进行了分析和评价.结果 显示,政府数字化转型战略规划是推动政府数字化转型进程最...     

论转型时期我国地方政府治理模式的创新

地方政府治理模式是否科学有效,不仅直接关系到地方社会的发展和人民群众的切身利益,而且直接影响地方政府的效能和形象。在社会转型时期,利益分化和阶层分化趋势明显,权力寻租和权力腐败现象仍然存在,公民社会力量不断增强,使现有地方政府治理模式面临新的压力与挑战。因此,地方政府治理模式应当引入市场机制,增强政府与社会的合作,强调自上而下的管理和自下而上参与的结合,培养多元管理主体,从而构建起地方政府、市场、社会三维框架下的多中心治理模式。     

小城镇污染集中治理市场化中法律制度的调整

为了解决小城镇严重的环境污染问题,应当加快小城镇环境污染集中治理步伐,并实现污染集中治理市场化目标。在市场化过程中,原来的政府和排污企业单一的双方法律关系转变为政府、污染集中治理设施与排污企业三方的多重法律关系,面对法律关系主体和法律关系内容发生转变,现行的与环境污染防治相关的法律制度应当做出适当的调整。本文针对小城镇的环境污染问题,对现行的排污收费制度、许可证制度、三同时制度、限期治理制度存在的问题和调整内容进行了探讨。     

政府采购对中小企业优先规定之评析

我国的《政府采购法》与《中小企业促进法》同时有政府采购应当对中小企业优先的规定。政府采购与一般的民事采购不同,在追求采购经济效益的同时,还应负载社会和谐发展的政策目标。政府采购对中小企业优先的规定有相当的合理性,已经为许多国家所运用,称为“合同的治理”或“合同顺从”;但同时必须看到的是,该优先规定也会带来许多新的弊病。通过政府采购来扶持中小企业发展未必是最合理的选择,我国政府采购在对中小企业优先时只能作有限性优先的安排。     

论生态环境治理体系现代化与环境行政互动式执法

环境行政执法是生态环境治理的核心内容,我国环境行政执法以威慑式执法为主,执法实践陷入执法者与违法者对立冲突之困境,需以生态环境治理体系现代化为契机,向新的执法方式转变和发展。随着环境立法的发展,我国环境治理模式经历了从政府管制到政府与社会二元合作模式,再到政府、企业、社会公众三元互动模式的转变,形成了新时期社会共治的现代化生态环境治理体系。现代化生态环境治理体系与社会共治理论相契合。现代化生态环境治理体系为构建环境行政互动式执法系统提供了互动前提与理论支撑。以此为基础,环境行政互动式执法的实现需要生态环境行政机关让渡权力空间,以吸纳企业协商和公众参与。     

我国社会组织参与社会管理的现实性探析

改革开放后,我国社会结构发生变化,国家社会由一体化向二重化发展,社会呈现多样化,政府在社会管理中覆盖面窄、手段僵硬、效率低下的特点已不能适应现代社会的发展,急需转变社会管理方式。新时期下的社会组织获得蓬勃发展,它自主、自律、民间、灵活、高效、贴近基层的特点能够弥补市场和政府在公共领域的不足,符合我国政府职能转变的要求,将社会组织引入社会管理,能够实现政府和社会资源配置的最优化,最大程度地保障公民权益。     

公共服务供给主体选择的悖论及其消解策略

古典经济学在深入论证公共服务市场供给无效性的基础上,将政府视为唯一的当然主体。然而,市场之手失灵并不意味着政府这只看得见的手必然有效。事实上,政府垄断型供给模式会引发诸如公共服务的超量供给、效率低下、质量低劣、有效供给不足等一系列制度性缺陷,由此形成了公共服务供给主体选择的悖论。为了寻求破解悖论的密码,需要摆脱在政府或市场两极间进行选择的惯性思维逻辑,借鉴新公共管理、治理理论等分析工具,构建我国公共服务的一主多元型供给新模式。这一模式势必需要我国政府实现从直接生产者的单一角色向动态兼任生产者、安排者和培育者的“多面人”角色转换。     

Accountable Multilevel Governance by the Open Method of Coordination?

Abstract:  In multilevel governance arrangements policies are coordinated across levels, usually in negotiations or networks of executives and representatives of special interests. Actors committed in such arrangements can hardly be held accountable by parliaments or citizens, and this is one of the main reasons for the democratic deficit of the EU. With the open method of coordination (OMC) the EU introduced a new mode of multilevel governance. The article focuses on the question whether problems of accountability can be solved by this mode. It is argued that the OMC framework includes two types of coordination. Whereas the dominating 'deliberative' mode does not improve accountability, the 'competitive' mode seems to be more promising. It supports transparency, reduces the costs of control for parliaments and stimulates public discussion on policies. However, multilevel coordination by policy competition at the lower levels of government does not work effectively under all conditions, and this therefore has to be carefully investigated.     

政府治理体系的构建:特色、过程与角色

健全和完善政府治理体系,是我国国家治理体系和治理能力现代化的一项重要任务和目标。为此,中国共产党在基于中国国情和多年改革的经验基础上,创造性地进行了“整体性治理”的党和国家机构的全面深化改革,从而形成了一种全新的政府治理格局。我国政府治理体系的构建,需坚持以人民为中心,坚持党的全面领导,加强人民政府与法治政府的内涵建设,将人民政府打造成体现多种功能的多维人民政府。     

Corporate Monitorships and New Governance Regulation: In Theory,in Practice,and in Context

Over the last few years, it has become increasingly common for government agencies to resolve corporate criminal law and securities regulations violations through the use of settlement agreements that require corporations to improve their compliance programs and hire independent monitors to oversee the changes. Based on our interviews with corporate monitors, regulators, and others, we find that these monitorships are failing to meet their full potential in reforming corrupt corporate cultures. After reviewing potential reforms to improve monitorships from a new governance perspective, we discuss the limits of these reforms that are due to the sociological and institutional environment in which monitorships are embedded.     

Corporate governance and financial development: a study of the French case

This paper belongs to the growing body of the “Law and finance” literature based on time-series study. It carries out an empirical investigation of the role of corporate governance in financial development. We focus on French corporate governance reforms in order to examine whether these reforms are consistent with the reorganization of the French financial system, which took place during the period 1977–2004. This research aims at evaluating one proposition of the legal origin claims based on the idea that there is a strong and stable relationship between legal origin, investor protection and financial system. A key question the study addresses is how corporate governance rules and the French financial development have changed over time. Our study suggests that indicators related to investors’ rights (shareholders, employees, and bondholders) have been increasing over time, despite the specific legal origin of the French system. On the contrary the creditors’ rights have followed a less clear trend. Our econometric investigation is fairly new as the Law and finance literature has not until now provided corporate governance indicators suitable for French legislation. From that perspective, our work undergoes a multiple criteria analysis of corporate governance reforms. Following this approach, we suggest that the causality links between changes in the French legal environment and financial growth in France are more bidirectional than unidirectional.     

Environmental policy integration and the architecture of global environmental governance

This article discusses environmental policy integration—a concept so far mainly applied to domestic and European politics—at the global level. The article distinguishes between integration of institutions, of organizations, and of their bureaucracies, and it addresses both internal integration (within the environmental policy domain) and external integration (between environmental policies and non-environmental policies). The overall focus is on one set of policy reform proposals that have been salient in the global environmental governance debate for the last decades: the question of whether the creation of a world environment organization would improve the effectiveness, legitimacy, and efficiency of global environmental governance. We revisit this debate and explore the options for organizational change, including clustering, upgrading, streamlining, and hierarchical steering, with a focus on whether the reform proposals can bring about environmental policy integration. We conclude that in the longer term, upgrading of the UN Environment Programme to a UN specialized agency, with additional and increasing streamlining of other institutions and bureaucracies, offers the most potential for environmental policy integration and does not appear to be unrealistic.     

国家治理体系现代化的主体之维

国家治理主体是国家治理体系的组成部分,具有多元性、拟制性、平等性等特征。与集中统一的管理不一样,国家治理强调多元主体的共治格局。政党、国家、政府、社会组织、经济组织、公民等都是参与国家治理的主体。从法学的角度看,这些主体都是法律拟制的产物,按照社会契约论都应以平等身份参与治理。以权力、权利主体作为依据,可把国家和社会的治理主体分为官、民两类。以此作为国家治理的主体来构建法律关系,可以发现权力冲突、权力与权利的冲突、权利冲突构成了法治国家、法治政府、法治社会所要解决的主要问题,也是国家治理的主体之维所要重点探讨的理论问题。     

The Portuguese Parliament and Public Opinion: A Case for Reform?

During the past decade, the Portuguese political system has been under close scrutiny. As in other Western democracies, the topic of citizens' dissatisfaction with democratic institutions has been at the centre of a wide debate amongst public opinion and politicians. This debate has focused on parliament and parliamentary reform has often been seen as a way of enhancing parliament's image. However, as this note will show, there is no clear evidence that the Portuguese are dissatisfied with this institution. Indeed, this is still an under-researched area. Why is there an assumption that the Portuguese parliament has a negative image? And why should this have consequences for parliamentary reform? In the context of the creation of a Portuguese Election Study, this note aims to raise questions for future research on this topic. The note will look into the concept of legislative support, assess the evidence available on the Portuguese parliament's popularity and suggest indicators that would help to clarify the Portuguese views on this. It will also explore the connection between legislative support and the role of parliament, to enquire whether popularity indicators can make a case for parliamentary reform.