Contemporary Chinese government

Author: Wu Aiming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: "Why does the government engage in this activity rather than that one? Why has the scope of government functions changed so dramatically over the past century? Why is the scope of government intervention larger in some countries than in the United States, while smaller in others? Has government intervention gone too far? Can the government do as it pleases? Can the government perform better? These questions have been the focus of debate among policymakers, philosophers, and economists for centuries. The World Bank's 1997 World Development Report: The Changing Role of Government states: 'Across the world, government is becoming the center of attention. Deeply significant developments in the global economy have led us to reconsider some fundamental questions about government: what its role should be, what it can and cannot do, and how to do these things better.' Financial expert Louis Mankin believes that in the 1980s, the fatal weakness of countries was their lack of understanding of the government's role in the economy. American scholar Johnson, in his book What Should Government Do?, also points out that all governments intervene in the economy for their own reasons, but the issue lies in the extent and purpose of that intervention. This has been a key political question since the 20th century. However, David Osborne and Ted Gaebler argue that most government leaders and politicians still cling to old ideas, focusing on whether we need a larger or smaller government rather than what kind of government we need. In the United States, most leaders take the old model for granted, either advocating for a larger government (liberal Democrats) or a smaller government (Reaganite Republicans), or a mix of cuts and increases in different programs (moderates from both parties). But the fundamental issue is not whether the government is too big or too small. 'We don't need a big government or a small government—we need a better government. More precisely, we need better government governance.' In other words, we need 'a government that can govern and implement governance. This is not an 'action-oriented' government, not an 'execution-focused' government. This is a 'governance-oriented' government.' Even when the government outsources many of its public services to private institutions, it is transferring the provision of services, not the public responsibility to the private sector. As Ted Cordery points out, 'A private contractor building a road does not make that road private.' When governments outsource activities to the private sector, these governments still decide on policies and provide funding. To do this well, the government must be high-quality.' The World Bank's 1997 World Development Report: The Changing Role of Government further proposes several thought-provoking propositions: (1) Establish an effective government; (2) The definition of government capacity lies in its ability to effectively engage in and promote public affairs; (3) Align the government's role with its capacity; (4) Enhance government capacity by strengthening public institutions; (5) The primary task of government is to ensure basic rights for people, including establishing the rule of law, maintaining a fair policy environment, ensuring macroeconomic stability, providing basic social services and infrastructure, protecting vulnerable groups, and protecting the environment; (6) Once beyond these basic functions, the government does not have to be the sole provider and must recognize its limitations; (7) Maintaining impartiality can motivate civil servants to work actively; (8) Focus on enhancing government competitiveness, as globalization poses a threat to governments with weak governance; (9) Bring government closer to the people, with the best mechanism for citizens to speak out being the ballot box—117 countries worldwide, or two-thirds of all nations, hold open elections to choose their leaders; (10) Establish global cooperation mechanisms to control regional crises, ensure global economic stability, protect the environment, foster basic research and production, and promote more effective international aid; (11) A good government is not luxurious, but necessary. What kind of government should China have? What kind of government does China need? How can we build the government we need? In the context of globalization, especially after joining the World Trade Organization, how can the Chinese government face new challenges, solve new problems, and improve its international competitiveness? This is one of the most important issues China is exploring theoretically and practically. This book is also a result of such exploratory efforts. We hope to systematically organize and fully absorb existing research on the Chinese government, using theories and methods from disciplines such as political science, management, law, economics, sociology, and history, to provide a systematic description and comprehensive study of the narrow sense of the Chinese government's practice process and current status since the founding of the People's Republic of China. At the same time, we conduct certain historical, institutional, empirical, and theoretical analyses to outline the basic profile and development trends of the contemporary Chinese government. This book was proposed by Wu Aiming for the outline and writing requirements, organized by Wu Aiming for writing, and finally edited and finalized by Wu Aiming. The specific writing is as follows: Chapters 1 and 4 were written by Hao Wenjie (Xiamen University), Chapters 2, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 16 were written by Wu Aiming (Renmin University of China), Chapter 3 was written by Wei Jiajing (Capital University of Physical Education and Sports), Chapters 5 and 12 were written by Li Yamei (Beihang University), Chapter 8 was written by Yang Hongshan (Renmin University of China), Chapter 10 was written by Tian Lei (Northeastern University of Finance and Economics), Chapter 14 was written by Lin Zhen (China Forestry University) and Zhong Minmin (China Minsheng Bank), and Chapter 15 was written by Wu Aiming and Lin Zhen. Due to time, length, and limitations in ability, this book has many shortcomings in structure, data, views, and language. We kindly ask the readers to forgive and correct them.