Customization in Civil Service Training: Implications for Outsourcing Human Resources Management

In the public sector, central training institutes once played an irreplaceable role in formulating training policies and providing training programs to government employees. The introduction of new public management (NPM) has stimulated a reform agenda in human resources (HR) management, resulting in a shift from centralized training to decentralized or outsourced training; to be precise, making civil service training more demand-driven and lessening the role of central training institutes. Local-level governments and agencies have acquired more autonomy in deciding whether to provide training in-house, or to purchase relevant services from private providers. In addition, dramatic institutional, economic, and operational changes in the public sector in the twenty-first century have brought about competition among governments worldwide in terms of innovative and creative ideas, prompting them to equip their employees with the relevant skills for the governments to remain competitive. This study explores how civil service training in Hong Kong has been decentralized and customized from the viewpoint of civil servants being trainees, and assesses the role of the Civil Service Training and Development Institute as a centralized training institute for Hong Kong civil servants within the modern, decentralized, and consumerized HR management regime.     

Organised Labour,Dualisation and Labour Market Reform: Korean Trade Union Strategies in Economic and Social Crisis

Labour markets across industrialised countries have seen an increasing polarisation between insiders and outsiders as a result of labour market deregulation and welfare retrenchment, with governments responding to rising pressure from employers. But where are trade unions in this process of labour market deregulation and dualisation? Insider/outsider as well as producer coalition approaches portray organised labour as a structurally conservative force that is ready to prioritise the interests of insiders at the expense of those at the margins of the labour market. Rather than protecting the entire working class, unions are seen as being “complicit” in labour market dualisation that leaves an ever greater number of workers vulnerable. Our examination of the Korean case, though commonly perceived as an example of unions pursuing particularistic interests, does not comply with this image, but shows greater union inclusiveness in the face of socio-economic and socio-political challenges. Understanding the change in Korean trade union strategies, we highlight the critical importance of union identities shifting towards social movement unionism, in addition to the perceived imperative to revitalise the movement in order to remain a meaningful social force.     

“工友驿站”创新模式与珠海工会改革经验探析

工会作为代表和维护职工合法权益的群团组织,存在最大的问题是脱离群众,其群团作用难以发挥。随着中国经济体制改革的深入,劳资冲突事件的增多,工会改革势在必行。珠海创建的首家"工友驿站"—新加坡花园站,是珠海工会去行政化所采取的重要改革举措,即以社会组织作为工会改革和社会治理创新工作的思路,通过向社会组织购买服务,建立"工会+社工+义工"的"三工"联动模式,为职工提供维权、帮扶救助、就业介绍、幼托等一系列服务,打通服务职工的"最后一公里"。     

Forever North–South? The political challenges of reforming the UN development system

Member states of the United Nations (UN) agree that its development system needs substantial reform given its fragmentation and outdated structures, as well as new demands from the 2030 Agenda. Yet, a recent two-year reform process yielded no substantial reform decisions. Why did member states fail to endorse the necessary reforms despite almost unanimous recognition of the need for change? This paper describes member states’ conflicting positions on reforming the UN and analyses their failure to delegate authority to the UN development system. North and South, donors and recipients, are locked in a struggle for power and control, maximising bilateral influence at the expense of the benefits of multilateral cooperation. The paper contributes to the pool of UN studies, adding a decidedly political perspective of the reform process. It is based on diplomatic statements, negotiation drafts and interviews with UN diplomats.     

Decentralised governance and empowerment of county governments in China: betting on the weak or the strong?

Decentralised economic development initiatives empowering local governments have gained currency in both developed and developing contexts. The empowerment of county governments in China is a case in point. This study uses difference-in-differences (DID) and the fixed-effects model with panel data (1997–2008) in counties in Zhejiang Province to empirically investigate the different impacts of the empowerment reform on county economies and fiscal revenue (FR). The results reveal that the reform has not promoted county economies as expected but has significantly increased FR. The reform has had a larger impact on less developed counties than on developed ones, which suggests a positive outcome of this decentralisation policy in China with regard to revenue generation. This study on county empowerment in Zhejiang Province provides some policy implications for other regions in China or developing countries.     

Breaking Bad News: Penal Populism,Tabloid Adversarialism and Brexit

This article analyses the role that British conservative tabloid newspapers play in promoting penal populism and delegitimising liberal prison reform initiatives. Principally, we consider how different sections of the British press reacted to the then Prime Minister David Cameron's prison reform speech of 8 February 2016. The analysis illustrates how different newspapers cohered around two diametrically opposing interpretations of the scandalous state of the prison system, reflecting distinctive penal philosophies and moral positions. In the context of penal populism and the populist furies unleashed by the Brexit campaign, the central research finding is that the comparatively passive and equivocal support offered by the broadsheets was no match for the vitriolic attack mounted by the conservative tabloids on the ‘soft justice’ parts of Cameron's prison reform agenda. We conclude by arguing that the stark lesson to be learned is that the scandal‐ridden prison is a particularly toxic issue marked by serial policy failure. Consequently, in a febrile, intermediatised penal populist context, why would any political leader take on the manifest risks associated with embarking on liberal prison reform?     

Women and Penal Reform: Two Steps Forwards,Three Steps Backwards?

Since publication of the Corston Report in 2007, initiatives with regard to women and criminal justice in England and Wales have been marked by positive steps on the one hand, but reversal and failure on the other. A central element to this narrative has been the enthusiastic development of community‐based services for women, only to be followed by the subsequent dissipation of government energy, a diminution of interest, and a decline in funding. In this article, some of the complexities of the reforms are considered, a detailed reading is provided of the various initiatives as an historical record, and the context(s) in which the steps forward and backward can be understood is reflected on. In light of the evidence, it is argued that if women's centres are to be successful in facilitating and supporting movements away from crime, then there is an urgent need for a consistent strategy derived from evidence‐based research and experience.     

试论劳动要素结构升级与深化供给侧结构性改革

从区分供给侧的不同结构层次入手,结合我国经济发展阶段转变和新科技革命引发的劳动要素需求变化,分别考察了不同要素投入在现阶段经济增长中的作用。与现有文献把经济减速的原因归结为劳动力供给不足、人口红利消失不同,研究认为在技术创新使经济增长与就业增加之间的关联效应不断弱化的情况下,相对于资源禀赋,人力资本投入才是中国经济实现高质量发展的决定性因素。因此,深化供给侧结构性改革的一个重要着力点,应放在促进劳动要素结构升级以提高人力资本的供给质量上,实现经济增长向全要素生产率驱动型的转变。此外,还考察了劳动力市场制度与劳动要素结构升级的关系,为通过劳动市场制度改革加快人力资本积累提出政策建议。     

地方工会“以上代下”与基层工会“瘦身减负” —— 近 40 年来中国工会改革的趋势与特点

中国工会为适应改革开放以来政治经济环境的变化,先后进行过四次比较系统的改革,在这一过程中,中国工会明确了自身作为职工权益的代表者和维护者的角色,其职责结构也从以往以生产为中心,向维护和服务职工转变,在履行职责的方式上,既借鉴国际经验,但更强调要回归和发展本土化的党政主导的社会化维护和服务模式。此外,地方工会与基层工会在职责结构上逐渐呈现出分化趋势,基层工会在职责上将趋于"瘦身减负",地方工会则"以上代下",通过整合各种资源来履行基层工会难以履行的维护和服务职责。     

Legal change in post-communist states: Contradictions and explanations. Introduction

Reformers had high hopes that the end of communism in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union would lead to significant improvements in legal institutions and the role of law in public administration. However, the cumulative experience of 25 years of legal change since communism has been mixed, marked by achievements and failures, advances and moves backward. This special issue of the journal Communist and Post-Communist Studies documents the nuances of this process and starts the process of explaining them. This introductory essay draws on the findings of the articles in this issue to explore the impact of three potential explanatory factors: regime type, international influences, and legal (or political) culture. Regime type matters, but allows for considerable variation within authoritarian and democratic states alike and the possibility of reversals. The influence of international organizations (like the European Union) is also far from predictable, especially once states have joined the organization. Finally, legal cultures and political traditions play a large role in explaining developments in individual countries, but there is nothing inevitable about their impact.