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.     

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.     

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。     

我国事业单位制度变革的路向与策略——一个公共治理的分析框架

在公共治理框架下的我国事业单位变革的总体思路应该是统筹规划,全盘布局,分类改革,分立政策,分别引导,分层操作,通过深层次制度变革和配套政策引导,将现存的事业单位各自引导成长为不同的社会治理主体部分,从传统的一元治理模式(即政府管理社会事务)向多元治理模式(即政府、企业、第三部门共同治理社会事务)方向发展。其中公益性事业单位的改革是我国事业单位改革的重点和难点,要针对这类事业单位改革目标进行二次认定,区分为政立事业单位和社立事业单位,并设定各自的改革方向和变革路径。     

美国广播管制中的公共利益标准

在美国广播管制史上 ,公共利益标准是左右广播业准入管制和公共政策形成过程的核心概念。事实上 ,公共利益标准是实行管制的授权标准 ,蕴涵着对政策决定过程中相互竞争的诸价值和利益的衡量 ,有相当的弹性和延展性 ;在司法和管制实践中 ,则要结合具体情境 ,将形式上的公共利益标准转化为具有实质内容的方案 ,实现对裁量权的导控。在我国许可制度改革、放松管制以及公用事业民营化实践的背景下 ,如何发展出可操作的许可标准和精巧的利益衡量技术 ,保障“公共利益”不因民营化进程而侵蚀和消解 ,是需要认真对待的课题     

过失危险犯之存在性与可存在性思考

决定某类过错行为 ,包括过失危险行为在内可以犯罪化的基础不是主观过错 ,而是危险行为本身所具有的社会危害性。过失危险犯只能存在于危害公共安全法益的犯罪中 ,由于公共安全法益本身的特殊性 ,这类法益价值的外延已经突破其本身的价值而及于它的安全性 ,即威胁它的安全就是侵犯它的价值 ,而使过失危险行为具有直接侵犯公共安全法益价值的本质 ,进而具备犯罪化的报应基础。设立过失危险犯与刑法谦抑原则不冲突 ,反而有利于刑法诱导和刑法忠诚。