Innovation in the system of public service

Author: Zhang Yalin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-10-01
Features: This book first proposes that public institutions are characteristic Chinese legal entity organizations in the public sector, serving as the main body providing public benefits to citizens and society. They are extensions and supports of government agencies, generally characterized by service orientation, non-profit nature, entity status, knowledge intensity, and public ownership. The book suggests that deep reforms should follow the principles of non-profit orientation, separation of government and public institutions, diversification, streamlining and efficiency, and legalization. Although foreign non-profit organizations and the concept of the third sector cannot replace China's public institutions, their definitions and scopes need to be re-unified and standardized. At the same time, the concept of "private non-enterprise units" with undefined scopes could be reconsidered.
Based on theories of public administration and public economics, this book employs a functional classification method to propose dividing public institutions into three categories: administrative execution, social public welfare, and production and operation. Different categories of public institutions should follow distinct reform approaches. The book highlights that the key to public institution reform lies in separating government functions from institutional operations, promoting institutional civilizing transformation, clarifying their legal status, abolishing administrative ranks, reforming government management of public institutions, and transforming the form of public service provision by the government. This will establish a new relationship between the government and public institutions, making them the primary providers of public services under the market economy system.
The book also compares and analyzes the personnel scale of China's public institutions from horizontal and vertical perspectives, pointing out that the current scale significantly lags behind the level of economic development. Appropriate streamlining is needed, along with enhanced macro-control, while continuous adjustments and expansions are required as the market economy develops.
Finally, the book concludes that reforms and institutional innovation in public institutions must overcome resistance and receive supporting measures in terms of personnel management, funding, and social security.