How responsible is 'responsive' government?

The work of John Rohr focuses primarily upon the constitutional dimension of the work of public servants, most particularly, but not exclusively, career civil servants employed in central government. In stressing public service ethics as a form of constitutional practice Rohr's aim is to help reinforce the legitimate role of career public servants in government and to remind practising public bureaucrats (and academics and politicians) of the nobility of the 'administrative vocation' of state service, a somewhat daunting task in today's political climate. In this article I examine Rohr's work to see what ethical light it might throw upon recent and ongoing political attempts to make the British public administration more 'responsive'. I do so, first, by outlining the main themes of Rohr's work and their location within the US constitutional tradition. I then proceed to discuss the extent to which they translate into other constitutional contexts. Finally, I attempt to put Rohr's work to use in discussing aspects of civil service reform in Britain under recent Conservative administrations and that of the present New Labour government.     

A Bibliography About a Changed Federal Government Workplace

Abstract

This bibliography contains more than 130 hand picked sources that address change in the Federal government workplace, including articles and books by academics and practitioners and reports by Federal agencies including the General Accounting Office and the Office of Personnel management, as well as Congress. The introduction to the bibliography draws on the expertise of three well known authorities in the field, as well as the authors' of the bibliography.     

Quality of Service,Expectation, Satisfaction and Trust in Public Institutions: The Abu Dhabi Citizen Satisfaction Survey

Structural equation modelling was utilised to develop and test three models while exploring the causality effect of constructs. The models hypothesised that trust in the government was a result of interactions of several other forces: namely, citizens’ expectation, perception of service quality and satisfaction with these services. The article validates and replicates the findings on the question of causality between performance and trust. The findings were very consistent with the previous ones. The model incorporating citizen's demographic data provided the best fit. According to this model, citizen demographics, expectations and quality of services influence citizen satisfaction; and ultimately, citizen satisfaction influences trust in government. The perceived quality of all services provides significant standardised estimates. However, congestion in streets, parking facilities, parks and recreation and schools are the most salient drivers of citizen satisfaction. The variables of income, education level, years living in Abu Dhabi and marital status exert the highest influence on this satisfaction construct. Perception of quality of services has a significant effect on overall satisfaction; and overall satisfaction drives trust in local government officials. In addition, citizen expectation influences perceptions of the quality of service and overall satisfaction.     

Can 14,737 women be wrong? A meta‐analysis of the LSI‐R and recidivism for female offenders*

Research Summary Over the past two decades, researchers have been increasingly interested in measuring the risk of offender recidivism as a means of advancing public safety and of directing treatment interventions. In this context, one instrument widely used in assessing offenders is the Level of Service Inventory‐Revised (LSI‐R). Recently, however, the LSI‐R has been criticized for being a male‐specific assessment instrument that is a weak predictor of criminal behavior in females. Through the use of meta‐analytic techniques, we assessed this assertion. A total of 27 effect sizes yielded an average r value of .35 ([confidence interval] CI = .34 to .36) for the relationship of the LSI‐R with recidivism for female offenders (N= 14,737). When available, we also made within‐sample comparisons based on gender. These comparisons produced effect sizes for males and females that were statistically similar. Policy Implications These results are consistent with those generated in previous research on the LSI‐R. They call into question prevailing critiques that the LSI‐R has predictive validity for male but not for female offenders. At this stage, it seems that corrections officials should be advised that the LSI‐R remains an important instrument for assessing all offenders as a prelude to the delivery of treatment services, especially those based on the principles of effective intervention. Critics should be encouraged, however, to construct and validate through research additional gender‐specific instruments that revise, if not rival, the LSI‐R.     

合供:过去、现在与未来

公共政策的执行效果、公共产品的数量和质量往往都要依赖公众的合供(coproduction)。不管是教育、健康,还是环保等领域的公共政策,离开了公众合供,就难以达到预期政策效果。但对于合供的研究,学界并没有给予与之在现实中地位相称的重视。本文梳理相关文献,提出合供需要一个灵活的框架来兼容多种定义。通过回顾合供研究经历的三个阶段:20世纪80年代的萌芽时期、1990-2010年的缓慢进展期、2010年以后的全面爆发期,本文指出新进展主要在于关注微观层面的个体动机和宏观层面的合供绩效。本文认为,未来的合供研究除了关注微观动机和宏观绩效外,也需要关注非营利组织以及有效信息沟通在合供中的作用。     

WTO框架下的金融服务贸易与资本流动和金融稳定

WTO下的金融自由化与资本账户的放开并非等同。GATS允许成员方有选择地进行金融承诺的特点为成员方通过对金融自由化政策的科学管理来实现金融稳定和发展提供了条件。不同服务提供方式和不同部门的自由化对金融稳定具有不同影响 ,允许外国金融机构在国内建立商业存在 (但不过分限制其业务经营 )、覆盖范围广泛的金融自由化通常对金融稳定具有良好的效果。这一研究视角及结论为我国管理金融服务政策提供了有用的分析工具和有益的借鉴。     

公共服务与服务型政府的关系

公共服务是服务型政府的职能之一,公共服务精神是服务型政府的根本标志。服务型政府在提供公共服务中负有最终责任。     

试论服务贸易

服务贸易的概念、特点和方式,国际服务贸易的发展现状和我国服务贸易面临的挑战,政府应该采取的对策。     

Leadership Styles as Perceived by Career Senior Service Executives

Abstract

This study identifies the prevailing leadership styles of career Senior Executive Service (SES) members of the Federal Government. This study also determines if an association exits between SES member's self‐perceived leadership style and personal characteristics, such as gender, years in the Federal Service, and highest academic degree earned. The study population consists of 6395 career SES members. A random sample of 364 career SES members was selected. The selected group was asked to respond to a demographic data questionnaire and the Styles of Leadership Survey (SLS). Over 34% of the sample completed the instrument and data questionnaire. This study reveals that Strategic Leadership Style (5/5) is the dominant self‐perceived leadership style of career SES members. The personal characteristics of gender, years employed in the Federal Government, and educational attainment were identified as being significant factors influencing leadership styles of Federal Government executives.     

台湾立法机构审议两岸服务贸易协议的实践评析

由于台湾岛内复杂的政治生态,两岸两会领导人在第九次会谈上正式签署的《海峡两岸服务贸易协议》（简称“两岸服贸协议”）至今仍未完成内部审议程序,两岸服贸协议的生效进程遭受人为延宕.台湾立法机构关于两岸服贸协议的备查与审议之争、径付二读之争以及“保留”之争,既凸显了台湾政坛向来存在的蓝绿之争,也隐含着立法权与行政权的对立.尽管如此,从两岸服贸协议对台湾经济社会发展的积极意义、岛内蓝绿板块的力量对比以及民进党杯葛两会协议的既往实践等要素来看,两岸服贸协议的生效仍值得乐观期待.