International Transitional Administrations and the Politics of Authority Building

This article critically examines authority-building practices of international transitional administrations (ITAs) engaged in statebuilding, and evaluates authority building as a framework for understanding the practices of statebuilding operations. It argues that war-torn states rarely lack actors claiming authority, but that these claims are often competing and mutually exclusive, and frequently not widely recognized. Building authority, therefore, requires ITAs to choose between different actors, recognizing the authority claims of some and withholding recognition from others, seeking ways to strengthen their ability to justify their authority claims vis-à-vis domestic and international audiences. Through authority-building practices, external actors directly become part of the political competition and dynamics of war-affected societies. The discussion of authority building by ITAs proceeds in three steps. The first section outlines the concept of political authority, in particular in the context of fragile states and of ITAs, and discusses relevant methodological issues. The second section then examines three distinct aspects of authority building by ITAs: claiming and justifying their own authority, recognizing and validating the authority claims of local actors, and strengthening the capacity of local actors to justify their authority claims. The final section concludes the paper with some reflections on political authority and authority building.     

泰国民主政治的怪圈

泰国实行宪政以来经历了多次军人政权和民选政权的交替,形成了政治循环的怪圈,而且每个周期的更替多伴随着暴力冲突和政治动乱.近两年来,泰国政治进入了新一轮循环周期,政治动荡更是此起彼伏.本文重点回顾了2008年的政治危机,分析了危机的根源,并对泰国政治制度发展前景作出预测.     

Is a Federal European Constitution for an Enlarged European Union Necessary? Some Preliminary Suggestions using Public Choice Analysis

In order to guarantee a further successful functioning of the enlarged European Union a Federal European Constitution is proposed. Six basic elements of a future European federal constitution are developed: the European commission should be turned into a European government and the European legislation should consist of a two chamber system with full responsibility over all federal items. Three further key elements are the subsidiarity principle, federalism and the secession right, which are best suited to limiting the domain of the central European authority to which certain tasks are given, such as defense, foreign and environmental policy. Another important feature is direct democracy, which provides the possibility for European voters to participate actively in political decision making, to break political and interest group cartels, and to prevent an unwanted shifting of responsibilities from EU member states to the European federal level.     

Is populism the third dimension? The quest for political alliances in post-crisis Spain

In this article, we defend the ideational approach to populism by arguing that populist discourses have consequences for government formation and the coalition choices of political parties. Using two attempts of government formation in Spain during 2016 as an example, we show that incorporating a populist dimension of competition alongside the two traditional relevant cleavages in Spain (left-right and center-periphery) can successfully explain agreements where approaches restricted to the two traditional dimensions fail. Essentially, populism forms a third, ideational dimension with its own content, one that can be considered alongside thick ideological dimensions in formal spatial analysis, shaping alliances among political parties.     

Political Trust,Ideology, and Public Support in the United States for Government Spending on Health Care

The U.S. health-care costs have increased at a rapid rate over the last several decades. How much responsibility the government should bear with the increase in health-care costs is one of the main questions that lack consensus among the American people. Utilizing the 2016 General Social Survey data, this study shows that over two-thirds of Americans want to see more or much more spending on health care by the government. An ordered logit regression model shows that political trust and ideology are significant correlates in predicting attitudes toward government spending on health care. The policy implications of the findings are discussed in the “Conclusion” section.     

政府绩效管理研究的知识图谱与热点主题

20世纪70年代以来,政府绩效管理日益成为公共管理学科的研究热点.以SSCI收录期刊的620篇政府绩效管理文献为分析样本,采用文献计量分析方法,得出国际上政府绩效管理研究的一般状况,包括文献量增长、核心作者、主要研究机构等.通过知识图谱分析,得出国际上政府绩效管理研究形成了四个核心知识区域或研究范畴,即完善电子政府提高政府绩效、政府绩效的测量、公共组织绩效以及社会文化和政府绩效.国际政府绩效管理研究具体有10个热点主题:绩效测量、政府公共服务质量、绩效管理的价值取向、绩效预算、绩效评估体系与机制、公共组织的绩效评估、政府绩效管理的多元参与、电子政府与绩效改进、政府人力资源管理与绩效改进、绩效管理的立法研究.国际政府绩效管理研究呈现出跨学科研究视角、核心知识范畴基本形成、高校是核心研究力量等特点.     

我国政府雇员制的发展趋势展望——《公务员法》颁布后的政府雇员制度

政府雇员制在我国是新兴事物.但由于此项制度必须以公务员制度的充分发展为先决条件,而目前我国的公务员制度仍未完善,这就注定政府雇员制度不会有好的发展前景.缺乏法律依据,产生程序过于随意和忽视对政府雇员权益的保护,更使这项制度的前景十分黯淡.     

沿海十省(市)药品监管机构能力之比较研究

在构建社会主义和谐社会的当代中国,药品的安全性和有效性正日益引起人们的关注,而药品监管机构能力的建设与评估也开始成为社会监管领域的重要问题.通过回顾国内外已有的对政府能力概念和要素的研究,借用Nelissen的潜在能力和现实能力理论,结合世界银行2003年《世界发展报告》中对机构现实能力的要素分析和"行政储备"理论对机构潜在能力的要素分析,构建起药品监管机构能力的结构模型,并提出一套评估的指标体系.对数据进行标准化处理后,通过统计排序对沿海十省(市)药品监管机构能力进行评估和比较,进而利用最小二乘法(OLS)建立回归模型,分析潜在能力中的财力和人力因素对现实能力的贡献率.研究发现:地区财力对监管机构现实能力的影响较之人力因素要大,这在理论和实践中都可以得到证实;各地药品监管机构的潜在能力与现实能力之间存在较大差异,就那些现实机构能力较低的地区而言,现阶段有必要把工作重点放在医药企业生产经营行为的监管和农村地区医药监管基础设施的建设上;而对于潜在机构能力较低的地区来说,从"专业化、程序化和独立性"等方面提升机构整体的人力资源是当务之急.     

绩效问责与乡镇政府回应行为——基于Y乡案例的分析

以Y乡为案例,从问责的主客体关系、问责机制的定位与内容、问责机制的流程与方式等方面对绩效问责机制的分析表明,目标责任制这种绩效问责机制并不具备较高的问责质量;正式的问责机制会导致乡镇政府从事于非正式行为,而问责客体特征则可能是解释其正式行为的主要因素。     

上海市"十二五"期间完善政府绩效评估体系的对策思考

完善政府绩效评估体系是实现两高一少目标的重要途径,是上海市十二五期间政府自身建设的重要内容。以科学发展观为指导,通过在评估对象的分类、评估内容的设计、评估指标的设置、评估方法的选择、评估过程的强化、评估结果的运用等方面进行全方位的大胆创新,形成目标、责任、督查、考核、结果运用五位一体、有机结合的政府绩效评估体系。