Citizens’ Perceptions of Governance in Rural and Urban China

This article presents three main findings from a purposive stratified survey of urban and rural residents. First, Chinese citizens “disaggregate” the state with high levels of satisfaction for Central government that fall dramatically as government gets closer to the people. Satisfaction levels are noticeably lower for those in rural China. Second, attitudes about the way policy is implemented by local governments raise concerns. Irrespective of place of residence, respondents feel that when implementing policy local officials and governments are mainly concerned with their own interests, are more receptive to the views of their superiors rather than those of ordinary people, favor those with money, and are formalistic in implementing policy rather than dealing with actual problems. Third, the areas of work that citizens would really like government to concentrate on are job creation and providing basic guarantees to protect against the shocks of the transition to a market economy. Tony Saich is the Daewoo Professor of International Affairs, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and Director of the Harvard University Asia Center. His recent research focuses on the development of social policy in China, particularly on the provision of public goods by local governments. His publications include Governance and Politics of China by Palgrave and edited volumes on Financial Sector Reform in China (with Yasheng Huang and Edward Steinfeld) and AIDS and Social Policy in China (with Joan Kaufman and Arthur Kleinman both by Harvard University Asia Center. He would like to thank Edward Cunningham for his great help in preparing this article. He also wants to thank Victor Yuan (Horizon Market Research Company) for his tremendous help in designing the survey and implementing it. In addition, I would like to thank Anita Chan, Martin King Whyte and two anonymous reviewers for their extremely helpful comments on an earlier draft.     

International Organizations ICTs Policies: E‐Democracy and E‐Government for Political Development

New technologies provide new channels of access to political information and participation in decision‐making processes. This assumption is clearly important in the action plans and policies of International Organizations (World Bank, Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development, United Nations), which have assumed a leadership role in the reform of political institutions. Starting from an analysis of the reasons that have brought the state and processes of institution building back into focus, this paper will reconstruct the International Organizations' vision of the transformative potential of new information technologies and their activity in this field. Particular attention will be devoted to e‐democracy and e‐government as policies to build democracy in developing countries.     

Social Capital and Public Policy – The Current Challenge Facing the Victorian Government

Social capital, since Putnam's 1993 work, has captured the imagination of policy‐makers the world over, and Australia is no exception. In 2005 the Department of Victorian Communities launched its Actions for Community Strengthening policy statement, which draws heavily on social capital theory. This article explores the theoretical underpinnings of the government's policy and critiques its failure to deal adequately with the causal relationship between social capital and its supposed community benefits. The article then seeks to isolate the missing factors through a look at recent research on volunteerism and argues that the institution of collaborative/interactive governance needs to be underpinned by sound socio‐economic reform.     

地方政府执行力问题探析

政府执行力是维系一个政府机构生存和发展的决定性力量。提高政府执行力,是加强执政能力建设,推动政府工作落实,实践和落实科学发展观的重要保证。     

转变职能 服务“三农”

乡镇政府作为我国的基层政府,直接面对农村广大人民群众,如何围绕服务“三农”去实现乡镇政府职能的转变,这关系到党在农村各项方针政策的贯彻落实和农村基层政权的巩固。随着农业税的取消以及“以工哺农”发展新时期的到来,农业与农村工作形势发生了巨大的变化,乡镇政府职能必须由侧重经济建设,向强化社会管理和公共服务转变。     

论中国共产党执政为民理念在不同时期的创新性

中国共产党执政为民理念是以马克思主义的执政理念为指导形成的，并伴随时代的发展而不断创新，从全心全意为人民服务到共同富裕和代表最广大人民群众的根本利益，再到以人为本，尽管在不同的历史时期有不同的表述形式，但其核心价值理念始终未变，对完成特定时期的执政目标具有重要的指导作用。     

国家干预的制度创新:第三部门——兼论第三部门与政府干预的维度

经济与社会治理应突破市场与国家非此即彼的单项选择,构造由市场、社会和国家共同参与的三维治理方案。为促进经济与社会的协调发展和谋求国际竞争优势,各国政府的治道变革方兴未艾,其中第三部门承担干预职能是政府治理变革的重要选择。     

社会主义行政法治理念的内容探析

社会主义行政法治理念是社会主义法治理念在行政法领域的具体体现,是社会主义行政法治的内在要求和基本原则的概括和反映,是推进依法行政、建设法治政府的精神支柱。社会主义行政法治理念的内容包括法治行政、服务行政、公开行政、民主行政、公正行政、诚信行政、效能行政、责任行政八个方面。     

规范公共行政行为必须控制政府组织的自利动因

公共行政行为的实施者是政府组织 ,作为社会公共利益的最高代表者不应具有自利动因。而事实上政府组织因其具有“经济人”特征 ,同样拥有自身的特殊利益 ,这种特殊利益往往随着社会分工的发展而日益突出 ,并由此而产生追逐自身利益最大化的自利动因。必须通过控制政府组织的自利动因 ,来规范公共行政行为 ,以达到保证公共行政行为在规范化轨道上健康运行的目的。     

中国政府管理创新体系研究

本文揭示了体制改革比机制创新更基础、更重要 ,分析了体制形成和运作的信念和系统哲学基础 ,进而构建了包括假设基础、管理哲学、政治体制、行政体制、组织结构、运行机制及管理手段与方法等七个层次的中国政府管理创新的内容体系 ,最后提出全面推进政府管理创新的对策。