Management Quality and State Bond Ratings: Exploring the Links between Public Management and Fiscal Outcomes

How and when does management matter for government performance? Focusing on the quality of core management systems, this study proposes that one way management contributes to government effectiveness is by facilitating access to low-cost credit. However, whether well-managed systems have greater access to low-cost debt compared to poorly managed organizations depends in part on prevailing conditions in the external environment. The study tests these propositions in the context of state governments' general obligation bond ratings. Results from the pooled Tobit models show that states with higher-quality management systems are rewarded with higher bond ratings. However, the positive effects of management on bond ratings are attenuated when the economy deteriorates or political uncertainties increase.     

Trust in Government: A By-Product of NGO Intervention in Public Policy

This article develops a theoretical rationale for the role of the rising number of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), acting as independent agents, in influencing the risk exposure of governments to the loss of trust. In this article, trust is based on government performance consistent with citizen expectations. This performance-expectation connection is a concept in theories of democracy, trust, responsive government, and good governance. A role of the NGO in influencing trust in government is proposed centered on bringing government performance and citizen expectations into alignment.     

Performance Regimes—The Institutional Context of Performance Policies

Performance measurement, targeting, reporting and managing of public services has spread across jurisdictions in recent years. The most usual stance adopted by governments in developing performance policies has been shaped by principal-agent theory and a hierarchy of principal-agent relationships from core executive to service delivery. Such notions have been challenged from several directions, both in theory and empirically. Writers on accountability and those analyzing the “audit explosion” and the growth of “regulation inside government” have pointed to the way in which multiple actors and accountabilities have grown. Drawing on these and other sources this article develops a “performance regimes” perspective that offers a heuristic analytical framework of the main groups of institutional actors who can (but do not always) attempt to shape or steer the performance of service delivery agencies. The aim is to create a framework that can be applied comparatively to study changes in total performance regimes over time and between jurisdictions and sectors.     

Interaction Quality in Political-Administrative Relations in the United States: Testing a Multi-Dimensional Model

Building on theories on new public management and results-based management, this article addresses performance measurement in comprehensive peace operations. More specifically it focuses on the Effects-Based Approach to Operations (EBAO) that is currently implemented by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan to measure the performance on a wide range of areas such as security, governance, and socio-economic development. The article reveals and structures several key challenges in the complex measurement process, varying from technical (e.g., the lack of targets or benchmarks for an indicator) to fundamental ones (e.g., the large controversy between intuition-driven and assessment-driven leadership) and provides recommendations to meet these challenges.     

Confidence in the police: Balancing public image with community safety – A comparative review of the literature

Examining the evolution of British and Australian policing, this comparative review of the literature considers the historical underpinnings of policing in these two countries and the impact of community legitimacy derived from the early concepts of policing by consent. Using the August 2011 disorder in Britain as a lens, this paper considers whether, in striving to maintain community confidence, undue emphasis is placed on the police's public image at the expense of community safety. Examining the path of policing reform, the impact of bureaucracy on policing and the evolving debate surrounding police performance, this review suggests that, while largely delivering on the ideal of an ethical and strong police force, a preoccupation with self-image may in fact result in tarnishing the very thing British and Australian police forces strive to achieve – their standing with the public. This paper advocates for a more realistic goal of gaining public respect rather than affection in order to achieve the difficult balance between maintaining trust and respect as an approachable, ethical entity providing firm, confident policing in this ever-evolving, modern society.     

大力提升行政处罚效能

提高行政处罚效能关系到政府权威和公信力问题。当前我国行政处罚法律制度不完善,处罚效能较低;处罚模式以少罚多量为主,难以形成社会效益的良性循环;行政处罚执法人员素质较低,自由裁量权标准不一;行政处罚监督、救济制度不够健全,存在着＂软＂和＂乱＂的问题。实践中,应转变行政处罚理念,改进行政处罚模式,创新行政处罚类型,细化行政处罚程序,提高行政人员素质,严格违法处罚责任,切实提高行政处罚效能。     

地方党政领导班子和领导干部实绩考核研究

建立并完善促进科学发展的地方党政领导班子和干部实绩考核评价体系,对于推进地方党政领导干部工作的科学化、民主化、制度化,具有十分重要的意义。本文从地方党政部门的工作实际出发,在中央相关文件的指导下,运用“平衡计分卡”这一绩效管理工具构建了适用于地方党政领导班子和领导干部实绩考核的框架模型。用北京市延庆县的实例阐述了地方党政领导班子和领导干部实绩考核从绩效目标到绩效指标的转承过程,以期为地方党政领导班子和领导干部的实绩考核提供借鉴。     

Comprehensive Performance Assessment and Public Services Improvement in England? A Case Study of the Benefits Administration Service in Local Government

The purpose of this paper is to independently evaluate the impact of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment regime on one particular public service, namely the provision of council tax and housing benefits distributed by local authorities throughout the course of the regime. This service was assessed in every iteration of the CPA methodologies and it included one of the few key performance indicators (KPIs) where the definition of the performance indicator, the means of collection and the public reporting of its results, remained the same throughout the CPA period between 2002 and 2008.

The findings show that there were considerable and consistent improvements in benefits administration nationally within England and across all of its regions. The paper then investigates a series of propositions. Whether there was any significant variations in the performance of larger as opposed to smaller authorities, or between predominantly rural authority areas and urban authorities or between authorities with different party political control. Finding no significant differences the research suggests implementation of the CPA regime itself appears to have had a catalytic effect upon the performance of the benefit administration services within local authorities throughout this period. The paper therefore concludes with a brief discussion as to whether the findings support the theoretical position of proponents of neo-institutionalism isomorphism or more traditional rational actor theories of public choice.     

Book reviews

The Sources of Democratic Consolidation by Gerard Alexander, reviewer: Eddie Hyland; Towards Holistic Governance by Perri 6, Diana Leach, Kimberly Selzer and Gerry Stoker, reviewer: Peter J. Laugharne; Democracy and War: The End of an Illusion? by Errol A. Henderson, reviewer: Adam Jones; Referendum Democracy: Citizens, Elites and Deliberation in Referendum Campaigns edited by Matthew Mendelsohn and Andrew Parkin, reviewer: Fiachra Kennedy; Mapping the Present: Heidegger, Foucault and the Project of a Spatial History by Stuart Elden, reviewer: Steve Buckler; Citizenship, Labour Markets and Democratization by Louise Haagh, reviewer: Jennifer Holmes; Economic Policy Reform: The Second Stage edited by Anne O. Krueger, reviewer: Carlos Santiso; The Press in Transition: A Comparative Study of Nicaragua, South Africa, Jordan and Russia by Adam Jones, reviewer: Mark Wheeler; Democracy and the Public Space in Latin America by Leonardo Avritzer, reviewer: George Philip; Democratic Control of the Military in Postcommunist Europe: Guarding the Guards edited by Andrew Cottey, Timothy Edmunds and Anthony Forster, reviewer: Bill Mikhail; Regional Russia in Transition: Studies from Yaroslavl edited by Jeffrey W. Hahn, reviewer: Bill Mikhail; Out of the Red. Building Capitalism and Democracy in Postcommunist Europe by Mitchell A. Orenstein, reviewer: Henri Vogt; Explaining Irish Democracy by Bill Kissane, reviewer: Niamh Hardiman; Indira Gandhi, the 'Emergency' and Indian Democracy by P.N. Dhar, reviewer: Vernon Hewitt; Government and Politics in Southeast Asia edited by John Funston, reviewer: Mark R. Thompson; Democratization and Welfare State Development in Taiwan by Christian Aspalter, reviewer: James D. Seymour; Religion and Politics in the Developing World: Explosive Interactions edited by Rolin G. Mainuddin Transforming East Asian Domestic and International Politics. The Impact of Economy and Globalization edited by Robert W. Compton, Jr, reviewer: Jeff Haynes; Beyond State Crisis? Post-Colonial Africa and Post-Soviet Eurasia in Comparative Perspective edited by Mark Beissinger and Crawford Young, reviewer: Ian Taylor; The National Question in Nigeria: Comparative Perspectives edited by Abubakar Momoh and Said Adejumobi, reviewer: Rotimi T. Suberu; A Strategic Vision for Africa: The Kampala Movement by Francis M. Deng and I. William Zartman     

Disruptive democracy: analysing legislative protest

This introductory article outlines the conceptual approach of this special issue on legislative protest and suggests that this form of protest alerts us to the negotiated institutional politics of parliaments. Together with many contributors to this issue, this article briefly puts forward a performative approach to studying legislative protest that brings into focus the spaces in which performances take place, the speech and rhetoric through which is performed as well as the bodies that convey the somatic norms of institutions as well as to alert us to issues of representation and representativeness of legislative institutions. Legislative protest then is viewed not simply as disruptive and inefficient, bringing into disrepute the reputations of legislative bodies; rather the performance of protest is regarded as yet another register through which we can productively map the changing cultural and historical development of representative politics.