Public Law Research (Volume 4)

Author: Institute of Public Law and Comparative Law, Zhejiang University
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-11-01
Features: Thematic Discussion: Chinese Administrative Law in the Era of Privatization
Zhang Zhiyuan
I. The Rise of Privatization and Its Positive Significance
Since the 1970s, with the increasing diversification and complexity of public affairs, the traditional bureaucratic government has become particularly sluggish. "Government failure" has prompted people to reflect on the legitimacy and effectiveness of the government's monopoly over the management of social public affairs. As a result, a large-scale public administration reform movement was launched almost simultaneously in Western countries. Whether in developed countries like Europe and America or in other developing countries, all aimed to relax administrative regulation, improve government efficiency, and enhance the public interest as common goals of governance transformation. Broadly speaking, the main content of this new public management movement, "renewing government," includes "the marketization of government functions, the legalization of government behavior, the democratization of government decision-making, and the decentralization of government power. The marketization of government functions includes the privatization of state-owned enterprises and the introduction of internal market mechanisms into public affairs." In this process, privatization (Privatization), which aligns with the theme of "government retreat and market return," has been favored by countries worldwide and has become a key measure of public administration reform. It is worth noting that privatization does not mean the complete exemption of the state from its obligations and responsibilities in public administration (i.e., the so-called "de-tasking of the state"), but merely indicates the varying degree of participation of the private sector in certain public administrative affairs. As the world's privatization expert E.S. Savas said: "Privatization does not