Public administration and the rule of law

This article deals with the enduring problem of administrative discretion in the modern American democratic-constitutional state. In the American constitutional tradition, administrative action is legitimate when and only if it adheres to the rule of law. This implies that administrators must be able to link directly their actions to grants of authority in statutes or the Constitution. But the growth of the state apparatus and the increasing intensification of the public administration's role in society have necessitated rather broad legislative grants of discretion to the bureaucracy. The result has been a seemingly perennial tension between the rule of law ideal and the modern administrative reality.

Attempts to control discretion via evolving doctrines of administrative law have proved unsatisfactory for a variety of reasons explored in this essay. The most important shortfall has been that the continuing expansion of the administrative state threatens directly the rule of law itself. After a survey of the weaknesses of these doctrines, we conclude that the rule of law is fundamentally incompatible with the necessary work of administration in the modern American state. Administrative discretion is thus seen to pose an intractable problem for the liberal democratic society, which accounts for its problematic persistence.     

公共事业民营化改革的认识误区及观念重构

公共事业民营化改革是我国公共部门改革中最为引人注意的一项变革,但是,实践表明部分公共事业民营化改革是不成功的,究其原因当然是多方面的,但其主要原因是人们对民营化改革存在认识误区——秉持民营化改革的成效取决于产权的变更,民营化改革的价值取向是效率至上,民营化是包治百病的灵丹妙药,民营化就是私有化等错误观念.公共事业民营化改革欲取得更好的成效,必须走出传统的认识误区,进行观念重构,要深刻地认识到:公共事业民营化改革成功的关键在于引入竞争;公共事业民营化改革不但蕴涵着公共价值危机,而且面临着严峻的风险;公共事业民营化改革需要一个强有力的政府来实施有效的监管.     

有奖拍违的性质及其违法性研究

有奖拍违的出台有何依据?它违法吗?各种观点的解释和行政部门给出的法条依据遮蔽了问题的关键。在这纷扰的场景下,只有将其放置于行政任务民营化的背景中,从拍客与行政部门的关系、国家任务的层级与有奖拍违的关系以及设定有奖拍违的权源入手,我们才能找到问题的答案。除了不可以侵入绝对的国家任务外,私人都可以参与行政事务,但无论以何种形式参与,此中都须强调国家的担保责任和由此衍生的指挥、监督及控制责任。     

Privatization and elite defection in de facto states: The case of Transnistria, 1991–2012

What factors determine the timing of elite defection in conditions of post-Soviet personalistic presidentialism? How do relations with a powerful patron state affect this process? This article analyzes these questions on the basis of a case study of Transnistria, a de facto state with strong links to Russia. It argues that privatization processes involving actors from the patron state provide a unique opening for elite defection by heightening tensions between the rent-seeking interests of the personalistic president and those of new owners; direct or indirect signals from the patron state may also affect elite's perceptions of incumbent durability and their corresponding decisions.     

德国水务私有化及其监管

德国水务事业改革是城市公用事业改革的重要组成部分,理论基础为给付行政模式由直接走向间接以及自由化和私有化理论,实践模式主要有企业管理或运营者模式和特许经营模式。从改革的经验看,政府监管体制的保障是私有化改革非常重要的方面。我国推行公共行政民营化,在借鉴德国经验时,既要注意事务分配、公权力调整、监管目标确定等一般性问题,还应当注意基准评估制度以及供水业管网和经营相分离的具体制度。     

学者型治理:集体行动的第四种模型

本文在简要回顾了有关集体行动的三种比喻性描述和三种流行模型的基础上发展了有关解决集体和社会困境问题的第四种模型:学者型治理。在三人开放系统和三人博弈的简单理论假设下,从四个方面讨论了在知识和信息方面具有比较优势的学者在社会治理尤其是集体行动中的可能性和功能,并简单分析了一些实证研究方面的回应。     

民营化时代下的信息公开义务——基于公用事业民营化的解读

信息公开立法的目的在于钳控传统官僚科层政府,随着民营化时代的到来,诸多政府公共职能外包给私人主体,使得传统的信息公开立法目的落空。以公用事业民营化中的信息公开事项为例,并主要结合英国公用事业民营化的实践,探讨信息公开立法直接适用于承担公共职能的私主体之可能性。并在转型社会与全球化的背景下,来考量现代与后现代法治的交轨处转型国家信息公开立法的多重使命。     

Trusted notifiers and the privatization of online enforcement

Online content is increasingly enforced by private parties based on private regulation. One recent trend in the takedown of unlawful online content is the emergence of models, where trusted third parties – private or public – are given privileged notification channels for flagging infringing content.Despite increasing practical importance, these arrangements have received little scholarly attention. This article explores the functioning of trusted notifier-models and how they are addressed by the European lawmaker in the context of two intermediaries, online platforms and domain name registries. Depending on intermediary, trusted notifier-models can both be seen as extension of the existing notice-and-takedown regimes and an additional voluntary expedited-enforcement layer. The author argues that these trusted notifier-models are problematic given the broad room of autonomy that the legislator is leaving to private parties. Whereas models involving public authorities are subject to general administrative law principles as well as constitutional and human rights safeguards, the framework for private regulation (i.e. without intervention of public actors) is less clear. In the field of domain names, these legitimacy issues give raise to special concern given the detached relation between domain names and website content. The paper criticizes the lack of insights into existing arrangements and calls for increased transparency. The author concludes that a legislative minimum framework is desirable.     

Citizen Redress in Public Contracting for Human Services

This article examines from a regulatory perspective the legal position of citizens in respect of contracted out human services. It argues that the inadequate protection of individual interests and the public interest here is a reflection of increasingly complex relationships between the state and independent sectors, expressed in the essentially hybrid character of contemporary public service organisation. Accordingly a hybrid reform strategy, rather than one that attempts to extend or develop private or public law in any particular direction, is most likely to be successful in addressing associated legal governance problems. The attainment of improved redress for service recipients, and increased accountability of contractors and other parties engaged in human services networks, requires the careful tailoring of remedies to the conditions prevailing in particular sectors. The goal of responsive law should be to foster qualities of good administration and respect for fundamental public interest values within the whole range of regulated agencies and bodies performing public service functions.     

农地私有化、市场环境与俄罗斯农业发展

1991年俄罗斯私有化改革之后,农业进入了负增长期。其深层次原因是市场环境不利于农业发展,非均衡的通货膨胀使农产品价格相对偏低,农业生产成本上升,收益却不断下降。在这种情况下,理性的农业生产主体只能选择减少生产,俄罗斯不得不依靠进口农产品来满足国内消费需求。1998年金融危机改变了农业发展的市场环境,卢布汇率的大幅度贬值抑制了进口农产品对俄罗斯农业的冲击,国内市场环境也开始向有利于农业发展的方向转变,俄罗斯农业从此走上了复苏之路。基于这种分析,2008年金融危机能够继续改变农业贸易条件和卢布汇率,因而这次金融危机仍然有利于俄罗斯农业的发展。