当代西方公共管理前沿理论述评

公共管理作为一门综合性的学科,其前沿理论五花八门,但其中比较宏观和有持续影响力的当属20世纪年70代末和80年代初兴起、到现在还在继续的长达二十多年的政府改革思潮.这一思潮的主要理论基础是20世纪60年代出现的公共选择学派.新公共管理、新公共行政/服务以及治理等前沿理论都与公共选择理论有着密切的关系,是公共选择理论的发展或是在批判公共选择学派的过程中形成的理论.这几个理论相关又不尽相同,与西方思想界都有着十分深厚的渊源,反映着不同思想阵营和不同理论之间的博弈,并没有达到能够相互替代的程度.它们的风行在中国的公共管理学界也引起了层层涟漪和概念上的混淆.从西方公共管理改革实践的历史背景出发,重点就这四大理论的特点、渊源和理论效度进行综述和评论,并讨论了它们对中国公共管理发展的启示.

Notes on Contemporary Public Administration Theories in the West

Public Administration is a field of interdisciplinary studies with a common core. Many public administration theories co-exist. Among them, the most influential is a set of reform theories started in the 1970's and 1980's and continued into our current time. These theories are all related to the theory of public choice that arose in the 1960's. They are known as new Public Management, New Public Administration, New Public Service, and New Governance, formulated on the basis of public choice theory, or on the basis of the criticisms of public choice, and are interrelated but not entirely the same, reflecting the tension and debate between different schools of thought. Their popularity has also waved into China and caused plenty of confusion. This paper traces the roots of these different schools of thought, identifies their unique features and their differences and similarities, and evaluates their practical impact. Also it discusses the implications of these theories and their implications for China's public administration practice.