关于民营区完善领导干部问责制的理性思考

问责制是实现官员从严格的＂他律＂走向真正的＂自律＂,从源头上防治腐败的根本举措。本文通过对太原市民营经济开发区的领导问责制的现状和存在的问题进行实地调研后,提出了相应对策：拓宽问责主体范围,增强问责的实效性;完善问责内容,增强问责的科学性;整合相关制度,形成问责合力;健全奖罚机制,确保问责落实到位。     

论制度问责与提升政府执行力

行政问责制在我国正从权力问责向制度问责转变。进一步革除权力问责的诸多弊端,努力完善现代政府的行政问责制度,则是破解我国政府执行力低效的重要举措。     

古典时期雅典的官员监督机制

古典时期,雅典建立了较为完善的官员监督机制,任期前的任职资格审查和任期内的信任投票和告发程序,以及卸任前的账目审计,从选人、用人、问责和追责环节遏制官员的权力滥用和腐败,一定程度上实现制度反腐,并维护了雅典的民主制度。雅典主要通过民众和陪审法庭实现对官员的有效监督。     

推进“县权公开”的现实困境及其有效路径

县权公开是在我国政治体制改革的环境下提出的重要举措,针对当前我国推行县权公开所面临的种种困境,可以从健全党内权力运行与监督制度、配套顶层设计完善问责与激励制度二个维度,有效推进"县权公开"。     

浅议金代致仕官员重新被起用现象

有金一代,致仕官员复出任职现象较为普遍,其成为金代致仕制度的鲜明特色。女真统治者大量起用已致仕官员是金代社会主客观因素共同作用的结果。退而复用的参政者具有官品高、起用后职官品阶高、民族结构多元等特点。复出官员在其岗位上发挥着他人无法替代的作用,其充分实现了人才资源配置的最优化。     

中华民国早期(1912-1928)的外交立法述论

辛亥革命后成立的中华民国,虽然在对外关系方面不得不接受晚清政府的外交遗产,但是,其以外交立法为动力,加强外交的制度化建设的做法却促使中华民国的外交发生了新变化:全面界定了最高外交权力的分配模式,建立起了外交权力相互制约的外交最高权力的制衡机制;全面规定了外交部、外交总长及外交官、领事官的职责范围,构建起以外交部和外交总长为中枢的外交运作机制和以培养、选拔高素质外交官、领事官为核心的外交官员的养成制度。     

清代海洋失事查勘制度建设及其困境

清康熙二十三年开海后,中国近海海域因海盗活动造成的商民船只失事案件持续增加。为维护海洋社会秩序,强化海上司法管辖,清政府在全面勘定沿海地方海域边界和内外洋界限的基础上,建立起一套海洋失事查勘制度,试图使海洋失事案件责有攸归。不过,随着清廷对失事查勘主体的问责机制日趋严密,加之缺乏有效的激励手段,海洋失事查勘制度的推行面临沿海文武官员的层层阻力。同时,失事船主“候官会勘”司法程序的取消、传统水师洋图绘制技术的滞后,也影响了该制度的实际运行效果。朝廷定例与沿海地方司法实践之间的矛盾,是清代海洋失事查勘制度陷入困境的症结所在。     

巡察御史与雍正朝政治

巡察御史是雍正朝极具特色的监察官员,其巡视地方、以非制度化的权力介入地方政治,并广泛参与到世宗推行的新政改革中。制度规定的缺乏一方面使巡察御史在行政中具有灵活性,对改良地方积弊深有裨益;另一方面则导致职事、权力与官位三者的分裂,使巡察御史成为制度之赘余,终致停废。本文梳理巡察御史的制度渊源与设立始末,检视其介入地方政治并实现职权延伸的实态,考察其废置的深层制度原因。巡察御史的兴废一方面与雍正朝政治走向相关,另一方面又可对省思清代制度设计与实践有所启示。     

公共决策失误的原因及矫正——一种从公共选择理论视角的考察

从公共选择理论视角出发,公共决策失误的根本原因在于政府官员的自利行为(个人主义取向、本位主义取向、急功近利取向、惟上是从取向、图谋私利取向)及其失误责任难于追究。因此,必须建立政府官员问责机制,加大其决策失误的成本。     

完善公共政策执行体制 创新政府管理机制建设

管理是指应用科学的手段安排组织社会活动,使其有序进行。政府作为社会管理的主导者,其施行的政策包含到方方面面,涉及到各行各业,特别是公共政策执行覆盖到社会的各个角落,触及每个公民的利益。针对政府公共政策执行体制的重要性,本文从科学划分政府事权、科学配置政府职能、扩大政策决策幅度、规范政策执行权力、扫清政策控制障碍、建立政策监督体系、完善政策问责机制等途径来阐述创新政府管理机制建设。     

Notes on contributors

Australian governments are facing some confusion about public sector accountability. This paper argues that the opaque nature of accountability which persists is the result of changes being wrought, separately and together, by a number of macro factors of which public sector reform and corruption inquiries are but two. This explanation is developed by an examination of some fifteen specific issues which are symptomatic of the lack of transparency in Australian public sector accountability, and simultaneously, contribute to it. The paper contends that clarity is likely to emerge only slowly as gaps and anomalies are recognised and gradually remedied. The paper seeks to contribute to the process by offering a definition of accountability and an outline of several different types of accountability frameworks now operating in Australian governments.     

Making the IMF and the World Bank more Accountable

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (the Bank) are now regularly accused of being secretive, unaccountable and ineffective. Not only radical non-governmental organizations (NGOs) but equally their major shareholders are demanding that the institutions become more transparent, more accountable and more participatory. Accountability, in particular, has become the catchcry of officials, scholars and activists in discussing the reform of the institutions. Yet few attempts have been made to dissect the existing structure of accountability within the international financial institutions (IFIs), to explain its flaws and to propose solutions. That is the aim of this article. The first section examines the structure of accountability planned by the founders of the IMF and the World Bank. The second section discusses the defects in this structure. Section three analyses recent attempts to make the institutions more accountable. The conclusion offers some recommendations for improving the institutions, and a warning about the limits of accountability at the international level.     

When Torture is a Duty: The Murder of Imam Yapa Kaseng and the Challenge of Accountability in Thailand

Abstract

On 19 March 2008, Imam Yapa Kaseng was arrested in Narathiwat in southern Thailand and detained as a suspected insurgent by Special Task Force 39 under the provisions of martial law and the Emergency Decree on Public Administration in an Emergency Situation (hereafter Emergency Decree). Two days after his arrest, he died in the custody of the army. On 25 December 2008, the Narathiwat Provincial Court ruled that “the cause of death is that the deceased was physically assaulted by state officials … while he was in the custody of soldiers who were performing their civil service duties”. This ruling is paradoxical: Thai state officials are named as responsible for a death in custody, yet torture is categorised as a “duty”. Since the ruling, Imam Yapa’s family has pursued criminal, civil and internal state methods of redress, but the case has been stalled and the responsible state officials have not been held accountable. In response, I challenge this paradox by reading the inquest decision in light of both relevant national and international legal instruments and the testimonies given during the hearings. Drawing on the testimonies given during the inquest hearings, I construct an alternative narrative of suffering and state accountability.     

Public Watchdogs or Imperial Pitbulls: An Evaluation of Special Prosecutor Investigations of Executive Branch Misconduct

The independent counsel investigation process was created to provide a politically neutral and independent avenue for investigating executive misconduct. Twenty investigations of high-ranking department and White House officials occurred during the independent counsel era. During this time, the process was criticized for a lack of accountability, for politicization, and for ineffectiveness in terms of investigatory outcomes. This research provides an empirical evaluation of the primary criticisms of the investigatory process by utilizing data concerning the investigations conducted during the independent counsel era (1978–1999), as well as information from more recent investigations conducted by special counsels appointed directly by the attorney general (1999 to the present). Specifically, I analyze the charge of lack of accountability by measuring the cost, duration, and expansion of jurisdiction for each independent and special counsel investigation. To analyze politicization of the process, I evaluated the impact of divided government and congressional involvement in the investigatory process. Last, the article provides a brief evaluation of the effectiveness of the investigations under review.     

读书仕进是提升明清家族社会地位的基本途径——明清福建几部族谱的分析

明清福建经历了迅速中原化的过程,家族发展就是典型的例证。为了壮大家族,发展教育、谋求入仕和仕途升迁成为其不二选择。族谱本身往往就是家族在入仕和仕途晋升中成就的体现。首先,在谋求入仕过程中,经商成为改善家族经济条件、为子弟读书提供物质保证的中间手段。家族教育的兴盛有赖于退职致仕官员、经商致富者及广大族人。其次是通过国家官员考核机制决定升降。在这个阶梯里,再次决定社会地位的高低变化,第一步未能走好,成为下层等级的官员还可以获得再次爬升的机会,而第一步即走入高级统治阶层的人们,也可能在这个阶梯游戏中丧失已有的地位,被贬为下层官员甚至平民。科举选拔机制和官员考核机制的结合,才构成一个普通民众社会地位变迁的全过程。     

Can advocacy change the views of politicians about aid? The potential and limits of a presence-based approach

Advocates of foreign aid in OECD countries navigate a unique form of politics. The beneficiaries of foreign aid spending have little voice in elite level decision-making about aid commitments from OECD countries. Thus foreign aid spending has a form of politics unlike other areas of policy where there is more direct budget accountability with citizens. Scholarly attention has increased on this unusual domestic politics of aid spending yet there remains little examination of the opportunities, challenges and tensions for aid organisations in advocating to elected officials. This article focuses on the case of Australian foreign aid, and the Australian Aid and Parliament project, an initiative of Save the Children. This initiative facilitates exposure visits to aid recipient countries for Australian parliamentarians. Most aid advocacy projects in OECD countries rely on mobilising citizens of those countries to act as a proxy, advocating on behalf of aid beneficiaries. This project reveals the potential of advocacy efforts that focus on the direct ‘presence’ of aid beneficiaries in the experience of elected officials (from donor countries). Yet it also reveals several challenges, and tensions between advocates, about how aid commitments change, and the most effective role for advocacy groups to play.     

Compound Democracy and the Control of Corruption: A Cross-Country Investigation

In this article we evaluate the influence of democracy on perceived levels of corruption. We argue that the control of corruption depends on the compensation and accountability of public officials, and on an open and competitive economy. We analyze the influence of democracy, controlling for the influence of other political and economic factors including federalism, economic development, and economic competition. The findings for the importance of economic factors are consistent. The finding in earlier research that federalism increases corruption is not robust. The findings for democracy are influenced importantly by the way that democracy is measured, but we do find that citizens' repetitive participation in competitive elections increases the control of corruption. In doing so, we move beyond the composite indices of democracy in constructing an alternative compound measure of democracy, which we argue is likely to be useful in other research contexts     

'Negotiation as simultaneous equation': building a new partnership with Africa

The value–added of a new partnership with Africa lies precisely in the opportunity to manage and to give impetus to relations and negotiations across a whole range of issues—conflict management, trade, debt relief, and aid—taken together rather than separately. Partnership, however, is not a new concept, in general or in development, and there are different models on offer. This article reviews these and sets out the choices facing new African partnerships with respect to a) participation b) coverage c) the form of partnership, and d) the structure of partnership. The article argues: against selectivity and in favour of building partnerships even with difficult cases; in favour of deploying all possible instruments, including economic, political and military; in favour of the principles of reciprocity and mutual accountability; in favour of institutionalizing mutual accountability through contractual or quasi–contractual forms. The characteristics of one particular, and far from easy case, Rwanda, reinforce these conclusions.
There are also implications for the G8 engagement with NEPAD. The article recommends a broad–based partnership, managed on the developed country side by the OECD, and that proposed monitoring by peer review be reinforced by joint parliamentary scrutiny.     

Democratic constraint and embrace: Implications for progressive non-government advocacy organisations in Australia

The advocacy work of non-government organisations can be either constrained or embraced by government attitudes and practices. Although it is widely accepted that NGOs are an essential component of a healthy and robust democracy, serving as essential intermediaries between community and government, and providing a voice for marginalised groups to make claims on governments between elections, the current dominance of the public choice paradigm in public administration has seen the legitimacy of NGOs come under attack. Questions have been raised about the representativeness of NGOs and the legitimacy of their standing as policy advocates. As a result of this shift many disadvantaged groups that had taken years to organise themselves sufficiently to have a voice have found themselves increasingly constrained and excluded from the policy-making process. The threats that many NGOs are now facing have the effect of reducing government accountability, sustaining existing inequities and, ultimately, diminishing the quality of Australian democracy.     

明代官员升迁路径述论

在我国古代,官僚是亲民治国的主体。这批人能否进行有效的治理与他们的经历密切相关。合理的升迁路径有助于官员积累治理经验。明代官员的升迁已成规律,其突出特点有二：其一,内外皆历,即低级中央官流向地方,高级中央官员须有地方任事经历;其二,行政与监察轮历,也就是行政官迁向监察官,监察官流向行政官。明代官员流向也有两大问题：一是内重外轻局面的加剧,从而妨碍了内外皆历制度的有效发挥;二是由翰林累官升尚书入阁者因缺少地方任事经历,故其治理能力大打折扣。