Public Sector Reform In Hong Kong

This volume brings together, for the first time, a collection of essays on public sector reform in Hong Kong. Public sector reform has come rather belatedly to Hong Kong, being launched officially since 1989. The underlying themes as well as key initiatives of the reform package are undoubtedly in line with similar reform trends prevailing in Western Europe, North America and the Australasia dating from the rise of privatization policies in governments in these places since the late 1970s. In Hong Kong, however, little discussion has taken place in the community over the government's guide public sector reform programme. Even within the civil service, interest in the programme has been limited to those senior officers tasked with implementing the reform measures. Little is actually written on the subject which should have important implications for the future shape of public administration in Hong Kong. Being the first volume of its kind in the local print, this book tries to capture the basic objectives and features of public sector reform as well as raise some fundamental issues and questions for further debate. The chapters are so arranged as to provide multi-dimensional perspectives from local academics, government officials as well as overseas experiences. This book should be of interest to general readers and of particular use to students of government and public administration as well as practitioners in the field.

In both the literal and metaphorical senses, it seemed as if 1970s America was running out of gas. The decade not only witnessed long lines at gas stations but a citizenry that had grown weary and disillusioned. High unemployment, runaway inflation, and the energy crisis, caused in part by U.S. dependence on Arab oil, characterized an increasingly bleak economic situation. As Edward D. Berkowitz demonstrates, the end of the postwar economic boom, Watergate, and defeat in Vietnam led to an unraveling of the national consensus. During the decade, ideas about the United States, how it should be governed, and how its economy should be managed changed dramatically. Berkowitz argues that the postwar faith in sweeping social programs and a global U.S. mission was replaced by a more skeptical attitude about government's ability to positively affect society. From Woody Allen to Watergate, from the decline of the steel industry to the rise of Bill Gates, and from Saturday Night Fever to the Sunday morning fervor of evangelical preachers, Berkowitz captures the history, tone, and spirit of the seventies. He explores the decade's major political events and movements, including the rise and fall of détente, congressional reform, changes in healthcare policies, and the hostage crisis in Iran. The seventies also gave birth to several social movements and the "rights revolution," in which women, gays and lesbians, and people with disabilities all successfully fought for greater legal and social recognition. At the same time, reaction to these social movements as well as the issue of abortion introduced a new facet into American political life-the rise of powerful, politically conservative religious organizations and activists. Berkowitz also considers important shifts in American popular culture, recounting the creative renaissance in American film as well as the birth of the Hollywood blockbuster. He discusses how television programs such as All in the Family and Charlie's Angels offered Americans both a reflection of and an escape from the problems gripping the country.

The series Public Administration in Asia provides a periodically updatable resource that examines the public administrations of Asian countries looking at all the factors involved in the formulation of public policies. The Hong Kong civil service has experienced considerable change since the retrocession to China in 1997. The new political order has attempted to exert more control over the public sector, to introduce new approaches to formulating and implementing policy, and to re-define the relationships between the government and the public. In this book, the author describes the system of public administration in this changed political context, compares the way in which it now operates with that of its colonial predecessor, and analyzes the difficulties which the new regime and the public sector has faced in meeting the challenges posed by economic recession, epidemics and the fierce debates generated by its constitutional policies.

This book describes and analyses the role of the public sector in the often-charged political atmosphere of post-1997 Hong Kong. In this second edition, Ian Scott explores public sector accountability in terms of Hong Kong’s constitutional framework and the structure, functions, and personnel policies of its civil service system. He examines critical issues facing the administration of the public sector and the formulation and implementation of public policy with particular attention to the political challenges confronting the Hong Kong government over the past decade. A concluding chapter assesses how contested values in a changing political environment have affected the public sector in recent years. This edition has been fully updated to incorporate the latest statistics and research, including Scott’s work in such areas as integrity management, corruption prevention, and policing. This book is an essential resource for scholars and students of public administration and public policy in Hong Kong and more broadly for those who are interested in how a particular jurisdiction deals with common administrative problems such as centralisation, the role of statutory bodies, corruption prevention, and the redress of citizens’ grievances. ‘Professor Ian Scott’s book, The Public Sector in Hong Kong, now in a second much-expanded and up-to-date edition, offers a thorough and rigorous analysis of contemporary governance in Hong Kong, focusing on all the key stakeholders. The book is essential reading for government officials, politicians, journalists, academics, students, and the general public.’ —John P. Burns, The University of Hong Kong ‘The second edition not only updates the development in the public sector of Hong Kong, but also provides an important perspective to help readers understand the contexts that navigate its latest developments. This edition, along with Ian Scott’s earlier work, will be judged by many in the field to be among the best books on Hong Kong politics.’ —Hon S. Chan, City University of Hong Kong

Public service reform, or public sector reform, has been a hot topic among political scientists in recent years as most existing government structures are inadequate to cope with the ever-changing environments of globalism in terms of capital and technology. This is particularly true among Asian countries where the traditional bureaucracy has been strong as compared to a relatively weak sense of community. Traditional relations between government, the business sector and labour, which slowly have taken shape in the last two decades, are now once again challenged through de-colonialization in Hong Kong, democratization in Korea, decentralization in Singapore and technological innovation in Japan. This timely collection addresses a variety of selected reform issues confronted by these four developed Asian economies. The areas of reform covered range from human resource management, financial management and pay reform, to central agency role, service improvements, private sector involvement and political accountability.

This landmark volume brings together leading social scientists including B Guy Peters, Anthony Cheung and Jon Pierre to systematically discuss emerging patterns of the reassertion of the state in the delivery of essential public services. Its coverage includes education, health care, transport and water in Asian and western countries.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the organization, problems, issues and prospects of the civil service in Hong Kong. It examines the origin and development of the civil service, efforts to deal with the changes before and after the transition, and the process of managing public services with references to its changing role and responsibilities. The book will be of interest to academics, civil servants, professionals and students, as well as researchers interested in the role of civil servants in changing societies, and can be used for teaching courses on public administration and Asian studies.

Based on new field research, this book assesses the current state of governance and public sector reforms in eleven Asian countries and jurisdictions, especially in the wake of the recent regional financial crisis that seriously affected some of them. It analyses reform efforts comparatively against a backdrop of governance problems, and seeks to establish whether these efforts represent a substantive shift in attitudes towards reform or whether they serve simply to reinforce existing practices. The authors explore a number of important themes that are central to governance and public sector reform issues. These include the role of the state, the success or failure of organizational reforms, corruption, the applicability of the new public management model in the Asian context, and the governance values and reform models promoted by regional and international agencies.