“第七次革命”:政府机构改革进展态势及问题

从建国到现在 ,已经过去了的机构改革有六次 ,加上现在正在进行的一共七次。第七次政府机构改革从 1 998年开始 ,舆论称之为“第七次革命”。总起来看 ,以前的六次行政机构改革尽管力度各不相同 ,裁员、缩编和机构撤并情况不大一样 ,但是它们却有一个共同特点 ,即那些改革不是旨在通过精简机构和裁减人员来达到调整行政机构整体功能和职能的过程 ,而仅仅停留在对机构和人员数量的简单减少上 ,人们称之为“机械式”改革。因为没有改革政府运行机制和职能 ,因而就不可避免地导致“精简———膨胀———再精简———再膨胀”和“越精简越膨胀”的逆向恶性循环现象

The `Seventh Revolution':Developments and Issues in Government Restructuring

Since the founding of the PRC to the present,there have been six major efforts at government restructuring,and now the country is undergoing a seventh.This `seventh revolution' began in 1998.Comparing the previous efforts,although they differed in intensity and in the progress of staff reductions and departmental mergers and abolition,there were also some common features.That is,these reforms were not attempts to adjust the overall functions of bureaucracy through retrenchments;they were simply `mechanical reforms' aimed at reducing staff numbers.Because they did not reform the mechanisms and functions of government,they could not avoid engendering a cycle of repeated `retrenchment-expansion.'