政府公开的原则与例外——论美国信息自由制度

信息公开是美国《联邦行政程序法》的重要组成部分,也是美国对世界行政法治的一大贡献。在简要总结了美国信息公开制度的历史进程和最新发展之后,还需详细探讨信息公开原则及其例外的司法适用,并深入分析信息公开和个人隐私之间的复杂关系诸问题。由于信息公开与透明度在行政程序中发挥着特别重要的作用,美国的经验应能对中国相关制度的完善提供有益的启示。     

政府公共服务事权划分混乱的成因与对策

公共服务事权在政府间的划分是建立分级财政体制的核心和基础,然而历史和现实原因使得我国当前的事权分配较为混乱、不尽合理,造成诸多问题。本文详尽分析了事权混乱的成因,并在此基础上提出今后公共服务事权划分的基本原则与思路。     

二元财政政策影响农村居民税负的数量分析

由于非正式财政的存在、统计技术的不成熟和统计制度的不透明,农村居民的实际负担无法从官方数据中反映出来。但是,从城乡差距入手,可以利用各类公开出版发行的统计资料,运用数理经济模型间接测算出中国农村居民每年的实际税率和政府每年从农业部门转移出去的农业剩余。测度结果表明,自1957年以来,农村居民的负担被严重低估,同时,虽然近年来,农村居民的负担略为减轻,但是,高税率的长期存在还是不可避免。因此,缩小城乡差距的政策不但要注意加大对农业部门的投入,而且还应该关注农村税负的减免。     

政府采购法基本原则探析

对《政府采购法》所确定的公开透明、公平竞争、公正、诚实信用原则作了概括阐述并逐一分析,阐明这些基本原则设计的控权倾向和公私法性质结合的特色,并且具体分析了每一基本原则的含义、作用、相关实践的欠缺,进而分别给出运用各个原则的相关建议,强调必须充分发挥这些基本原则的各种作用,以达到规范权力和促进诚信的当前要务。     

联合国财政改革的国际法分析

联合国自成立以来,就持续受到财政紧缺的困扰,财政问题尤其是会员国拖欠会费问题,制约着联合国的正常运转和联合国改革的全局。联合国组织本身的局限性以及缺乏强有力的欠费制裁机制,是联合国财政改革的内在需求。改革的主要思路是开源节流,节约开支、精简预算并寻求可行的新财政来源,辅之以有效的欠费执行机制。以国际法为基础,在国际政治与国际关系的互动中推进联合国财政改革,是当前国际社会共同的目标。     

When does open government shut? Predicting government responses to citizen information requests

Methods for the analysis of “big data” on citizen-government interactions are necessary for theoretical assessments of bureaucratic responsiveness. Such big data methods also stand to benefit practitioners' abilities to monitor and improve these emerging transparency mechanisms. We consider supervised latent Dirichlet allocation (sLDA) as a potential method for these purposes. To this end, we use sLDA to examine the Mexican government's (non)responsiveness to all public information requests filed with the federal Mexican government during the 2003–2015 period, and to identify the request topics most associated with (non)responsiveness. Substantively, our comparisons of the topics that are most highly predictive of responsiveness and nonresponsivess indicate that political sensitivity plays a large and important role in shaping official behavior in this arena. We thus conclude that sLDA provides unique advantages for, and insights into, the analysis of (i) textual records of citizen–government interactions and (ii) bureaucratic (non)responsiveness to these interactions.     

Fiscal and political determinants of local government involvement in public-private partnership (PPP)

ABSTRACT

In this article, we estimate the main determinants of local government’s engagement in public-private partnership (PPP) projects using logistic panel regression. We use data from 2478 municipalities and cities in Poland from 2009 to 2016. The results show that municipalities with higher levels of indebtedness have a higher probability of opening PPP tenders while local units that are more dependent on central grants or receive more European grants are less engaged in PPP. We also found that the mayors of municipalities and cities with stronger electoral competition engage in PPP with a higher probability. These results are important for discussions on the efficient use of PPP. They show that local government decisions made in conditions of fiscal constraint and political struggle can blur the PPP’s value-for-money aim.     

Reaching out to the people? Assessing the relationship between parliament and citizens in Finland

Despite the Open Government (Parliament) initiatives and notions of a ‘democratic parliament’, the relationship between legislatures and citizens remains seriously under-researched. This article introduces a comprehensive analytical framework, combining the normative principles of visibility, accessibility, and permeability with practical indicators (parliament as public space, sharing of information, contact with MPs, media and digital engagement, transparency of legislative process, and actual participation in legislative decision-making) for assessing the public engagement of parliaments. Applying this framework to the Finnish Eduskunta, the authors show that despite recent reforms that have partially ‘opened up’ parliamentary proceedings and attempted to connect citizens to democratic process, there remains scope for reforms and innovations. The Eduskunta should embrace a more positive approach towards new forms of civic participation, particularly regarding how its influential committees operate. The findings reflect the tensions between, or the difficulties in reconciling, traditional forms of representative democracy with alternative and more direct channels of political participation.     

Governmental Mismanagement and Symbolic Violence: Discourses on Corruption in the Yucatán of the 1990s1

Abstract — Departing from a conceptualisation of corruption as a form of symbolic violence, this article analyses the character and impact of the discourses about corruption which were produced in Yucatán in the beginning of the 1990s. The discourses produced by official and oppositional forces are scrutinised against the background of the federal government's neoliberal policies and the sociopolitical situation in the region during 1992 and 1993. The analysis gives some insights into the character of Mexican's and Yucatecan's experiences with corruption in their own setting. It explores some of the conflictual processes involved when social forces turn this form of symbolic violence into the object of moral critique in public discourses, drawing in this way also attention to how the state is imagined by those who exercise state power and those who are subject to it.     

Accountability in Governance: The Challenge of Implementing the Aarhus Convention in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

The signing of the 1998 UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) radically extended international law on transparency and accountability in environmental governance. For the countries of Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) that have now ratified, the Convention could prompt profound democratic changes. This article, based on the authors' experiences, analyses changing cultures of governance in EECCA countries. The first so-called pillar of access to information sets in place rights that directly contradict the fundamental secrecy of the former Soviet Union countries. Some officials' reluctance to share environmental information may also be linked to the economic duress of the current transition period, where information may be an official's only asset. The second pillar of public participation also poses difficulties for officials for whom the highest praise is to be considered a professional. In their belief that no one knows better than they do, they are reluctant to spend time and resources to make decision-making transparent and to involve the public. The third pillar of access to justice breaks new ground for post-socialist countries still developing their judicial systems. Though several highly sophisticated NGOs have been successful in using courts, it remains difficult for an ordinary EECCA citizen to bring an environment-related legal action. Changing these attitudes and practices will be a long and troublesome process. The Aarhus Convention will not be truly implemented until openness, transparency and accountability in environmental decision-making become everyday habits.