Government Transformation in the Age of Reform

Abstract

As of the 1970s, the tide of “new public administration reform” sweeps across Western countries, and the government reform which focuses on core government functions, provides pluralistic services, promotes decentralization, optimizes government structure, introduces business administration practices and motivates the initiative of government personnel ushers in the new age of government governance. Government reform in China which concurrently launches together with this progress well responds to it in a sense. Accompanied by the establishment and development of socialist market economy, the Chinese government out of the old days in planned economy is now undergoing a historical reform from omnipotence to finite. In respect of the administration for economic society, the government transits from direct administration to indirect administration, and from micro-administration to macro-administration. In the meantime, some functions used to be assumed by the government have been gradually transferred to the market and the society. The overall goal proposed at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) “to promote the modernization of the national governance system and capacity” determines the key emphasis of work in government reform of China. To state it briefly, the government should construct a governance mode with modern characteristics in structural system and governance capacity from the perspective of scientific function positioning, rational construction, clear power division, separation of government from public service units, transparency and high efficiency, and rule by law.