Senkt New Public Management die Verwaltungsausgaben in den Schweizer Kantonen? Eine empirische Analyse über zwei Dekaden

In light of the growing public spending in many regions of the world, this study scrutinizes relevant determinants of core public administration expenditure at the cantonal level in Switzerland, focusing particularly on New Public Management (NPM) reforms. The empirical study comprises all 26 cantons in the period from 1993 through 2014 and uses both cross‐sectional and longitudinal analytical methods. In addition to NPM, we control for various variables related to political parties, institutions, socioeconomics and culture. The results show no clear relationship between NPM reforms and expenditure, although such reforms were often intended to cut costs. Our explanation for this finding is that NPM as a concept is rather inconsistent. Various control variables are either positively or negatively related with expenditure. All in all, our findings suggest that public expenditure is still mostly determined by politics and can only be influenced by administrative reforms within certain narrow limits.     

Linking Public Housing to Education: A Comparative Case Study of HOPE VI

This research examines the federally funded HOPE VI urban revitalization program’s influence on neighborhood public school performance. A comparative case study was conducted in two HOPE VI neighborhood public schools, one that improved significantly (Philadelphia), and one that experienced a decline (Washington DC). The analysis revealed several insights into neighborhood factors that may influence school performance: the most vulnerable residents were least likely to gain reentry, mixed income housing residents often opt out of traditional public schools, and partnerships between public housing and education officials have been historically overlooked.     

Public Services after Austerity: Zombies,Suez or Collaboration?

Public services—in the UK and elsewhere—are under considerable pressure, not just from austerity, but also from a variety of social, demographic and technological changes (in effect ‘austerity plus’). In this context, three broad options are open to policy‐makers: continue with tried‐and‐tested approaches while spending less money, which in the UK means a reliance on ‘New Public Management’ (NPM); withdraw completely from certain public services; or develop new approaches to public administration. We argue that all of these approaches have been attempted in recent years, but it is the final option that is most interesting and potentially the most beneficial. In this article, we examine experiments with these new approaches in responding to ‘austerity plus’. In particular, we examine various attempts at ‘collaboration’ in public services and discuss the risks associated with them. We conclude by setting out the extent to which policy‐makers have moved beyond NPM and suggesting some of the benefits that this could bring.     

Innovation Agents in the Public Sector: Applying Champion and Promotor Theory to Explore Innovation in the Australian Public Service

Innovation is critical to organisational success and is a process steered, and potentially thwarted, by individuals. However, despite the importance of public sector innovation given the complexity of policy issues faced and the sector's specific contextual features, our understanding of innovation processes in government requires expansion. This study, using in‐depth case analyses of three Australian Public Service agencies, focuses on understanding the ‘human component’ of the innovation process by drawing on both innovation champion and promotor theories to explore, through the lens of organisational power, how multiple human agents progress public sector innovations. The results highlight the key, and often tandem, roles of individuals at multiple organisational levels who work to inspire and motivate others to progress an innovation (champions) and those with specific power bases who help overcome organisational barriers to innovation (promotors).     

Forget “Blind Leading the Seeing” – Improving Public Service Management

The aim of this research is to identify the most effective public service management approaches for outsourced services. Our focus is on the phases of transition and service management post provider selection. To reach this aim, comparative case studies across sectors were conducted. The studied cases indicate that managing an outsourced service should not be a separate area of public management research nor practice, but rather a part of service management. Best practices in (outsourced) public service management are provided. Management focus on transition phase after provider selection, performance measurement, and evaluation will bring efficiency to public sector service production.     

Direct Democracy and Political Trust: Enhancing Trust,Initiating Distrust–or Both?

This study investigates the relationship between direct democracy and political trust. We suggest a solution to the controversy in research centering on positive versus negative effects of direct democracy by analytically differentiating between the availability of direct democratic rights and the actual use of those rights. Theoretically, greater availability of direct democratic rights may enhance political trust by increasing citizens' perception that political authorities can be controlled as well as by incentivizing political authorities to act trustworthily. In contrast, the actual use of the corresponding direct democratic instruments may initiate distrust as it signals to citizens that political authorities do not act in the public's interest. We test both hypotheses for the very first time with sub‐national data of Switzerland. The empirical results seem to support our theoretical arguments.     

公共行政服务的道德约束

在市场经济中,社会公共服务的职能重要性日益突出,通过道德约束来提高服务效率,是一条重要途径。我国社会道德正处在惯例层次的第二阶段,该阶段的道德约束具有公认的多样性、对象的层次性、约束重点的集中性和实施上的高难度性等特点。对此,制度性道德约束将有利于公共服务效率的提高,制度性道德约束内涵比较丰富,在实施当中,要使潜规则显性化,以他律为主,采取多种激励手段,需要建立道德约束的保护机制。     

中国台湾的女孩生存问题及其公共政策治理

通过网络、国际会议、期刊等媒介搜集相关资料,首先对中国台湾省的女孩生存问题的态势和原因进行了梳理,发现台湾的女孩生存问题主要由出生性别比反映出来,呈现出总体上升趋势,但主要在略高于正常值的范围内波动;导致台湾女孩生存问题的原因包括根源性原因、条件性原因和直接原因。其次对台湾在女孩生存问题方面的公共政策治理措施及其效果进行了分析,发现台湾不仅采取了针对女孩生存问题的直接措施,也采取了促进妇女发展的间接措施,涉及到法律、政治、经济、人口、文化等各个领域,并建立了确保治理措施付诸于实施的运行机制。这些公共政策治理措施虽然在短期内并没有改变台湾女孩生存问题的现状,但对于提高妇女地位、促进妇女发展产生了一定的积极影响。最后借鉴台湾针对女孩生存问题治理的经验和教训,立足于大陆女孩生存问题及其治理的特点,分别从战略和操作化两个层次为大陆地区女孩生存问题的治理提出了政策建议。     

中国公共管理的“公共性”释义

“公共性”是一个分析现代政府活动性质和行为的重要工具,对公共管理的“公共性”的探讨有利于国家公共政策的制定与执行,对处在转型期的中国而言,研究政府公共管理的“公共性”在这种特定环境与制度下的内涵更具有重要意义。本文从根本理念层面、道德层面和政治过程层面来解释公共管理的“公共性”内容,分析了我国政府对公共管理的根本理念定位———公众满意,国家公务员的公共行政道德责任建设及公民参与对“公共性”实现的重要作用。     

公证人的法律责任问题研究

就公证法律责任的主体、承担法律责任的基本原则、及其种类等方面来研究公证人的法律责任,从而规范公证法律行为,构建和完善与国际接轨并符合中国国情的公证法律制度体系。