Local government projectification in practice – a multiple institutional logic perspective

ABSTRACT

During the last couple of decades, we have witnessed a proliferation of the project as an organizational solution in sectors as diverse as IT, housing, social services, education and culture. Despite a growing interest in the phenomenon, we know surprisingly little of how processes of public sector projectification unfold in practice, especially at local government level. This article uses an institutional logic perspective to illustrate and argue that public sector projectification can be understood and conceptualized as the enactment of multiple, co-existing institutional logics, but where one particular logic is of growing importance – the project logic. It is argued that even though the project form is often perceived as more flexible than that of the bureaucracy, the practical outcome seldom represents a radical break with traditional, bureaucratic management models. Rather, it appears to aid a rediscovery and reuse of central bureaucratic practices and procedures such as reporting, documentation and standardization.     

Assessing the Performance of the Price Cap Plan for Local Exchange Carriers in the United States

In 1991 the FCC implemented a price cap plan for local exchange carriers' interstate access service designed to deal with the regulatory boundaries problem arising from the breakup of AT&T in 1984. The experience with the price cap plan demonstrates the difficulty of predicting productivity growth accurately and makes clear that regulators cannot depend upon a pure price cap plan to keep prices within a reasonable range of costs. With periodic reviews to readjust plan parameters, however, a price cap plan can maintain the rate-of-return close to the target rate-of-return without diminishing the price cap plan's incentives for efficient production. A simple method of recalculating the X-factor based on the rate-of-return over the previous three years worked well in simulations. If this procedure had been used over the price cap period 1991 to 2000, prices would have been 20 percent lower and expenditures on LECs' telecommunications service subject to a price cap would have been $3.8 billion lower.     

试论邓小平对政治合法性的维护及其启示

合法性是关系到党和国家政权生死存亡的根本问题。“文革”结束后,维护党和国家政权的合法性问题凸现出来,邓小平正确处理了毛泽东的意识形态遗产,开始重建法理权威,并通过促进经济发展和反腐败树立政府形象的方法维护了政治的合法性。新时期我们仍面临着合法性维护的问题,邓小平的实践为整个现代化进程中的合法性维护提供了诸多有益启示。     

多权力格局的冲突与协调——以本轮房地产调控为中心所展开

房居事关民生,中央政府已出台一系列政策,仍无法控制房价的飞涨.需求和供给能解释大部分高房价,但仍无法解释为什么中央政策的失效.高房价是一系列主体的行为所导致,政府之间、政府部门间的冲突放纵了房价的上涨.更深刻的原因在于我国政制的不足,权力行使应被制约,但也要使它有效协调运作.     

冲击铁路群体性治安事件的原因

造成冲击铁路群体性治安事件的原因是复杂的 ,多方面的 ,既有主观方面的原因 ,也有客观方面的因素。对此笔者从政治、经济、社会、文化和心理五个方面进行了分析 ,阐明了带有普遍规律性和特殊性的结论。     

简论区域经济宏观调控的几个关系

协调区域经济发展是政府的重要职责 ,在缩小区域发展差距问题上 ,必须充分发挥政府的调控作用 ,通过市场调节与政府宏观调控结合 ,促使区域经济发展差距缩小和协调发展。在区域经济发展宏观调控中 ,中央政府调控与地方政府调控各自发挥着它们的作用 ,它们彼此是不能互相替代的     

An Analysis of the Joint Board or County Model as the Structural Basis for Effective Australian Local Governance

Australian policy‐makers continue to rely on municipal amalgamation as the main engine of structural reform in local government, despite strong evidence that it diminishes participation and representation without improving service efficiency. Several promising, but neglected alternative models of structural reform have been developed, including ad hoc resource sharing models, Regional Organisations of Councils, virtual local government, and agency models. In an encouraging response to the recent policy of enforced council amalgamations in NSW, the Shires Association of NSW (2004) has recently proposed a ‘Joint Board model’ of local governance and invited comment on this model. This article takes up this challenge and seeks to place the Joint Board model in conceptual context and evaluate its characteristics and simulated cost savings.     

西方女性主义学术思想的传播及其本土实践--对当前中国妇女研究的思考

10多年来,西方女性主义学术思想在中国的传播,对于我国学界新的学术理念的确立、研究方法和思维方式的转变以及学科建设等方面产生了促进作用.但作为舶来品的西方女性主义,在引进和传播的过程中,如何与中国本土的妇女理论研究和妇女解放实践密切结合,仍将是今后一段时期内妇女研究不可回避的一个重要理论问题.因此,当前应着重处理好学术与政治之间、提高与普及之间、全球化与本土化之间的关系.     

民办高校兴起所引发的社会治安问题及其对策

作为新事物的民办高校,人们在肯定其积极作用的同时,对其在教育环境、管理体制等方面所引发的社会治安问题也是不容忽视的。各级管理部门应针对民办高校发展的独特性,从其教学模式等各方面解决问题,促其更好地为我国教育事业服务。     

当前农村居民制度化政治参与的制约因素及改善

减少甚至消除农民大量非制度化政治参与的根本措施是要加强农民制度化政治参与建设。农民政治参与强烈要求同其政治表达与参与机制不完善的矛盾,农民政治参与要求的实现同其自身发展和组织程度较低之间的矛盾,是制约农民制度化政治参与的关键。各级政府应加强农民制度化政治参与的建设措施。