Government for the people

The Chinese government has vowed to change its style of governance by reducing the administrative approval procedures and delegating some powers to lower bodies in order to create a favorable environment for further economic development. Departments under the State Council such as the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Finance have also accelerated the pace of their reforms in line with the strategic choice that the Central Committee and the State Council have made to meet the country's changing situation.

Under such circumstances, how local governments accelerate reform and innovation to build service-oriented governments that satisfy the public has become a task of top priority.

The transformation of local government functions and institutional reform is a significant part of the central government's reform program. The function of local governments is to satisfy people's needs, alleviate social conflicts, and distribute social resources among different groups. With the development of society and the economy, local governments bear more responsibility for providing public services, such as employment, poverty relief, social welfare and the construction of infrastructure.

There is a tremendous demand for public services, and rural citizens have demands for public services that are different from urban citizens. The demand for public services from urban residents is mainly focus on employment, care of the aged, children, adolescents and low income households; while the demand for public services in rural areas is focused more on senior citizens, recreational activities, children, adolescents, low income households and disabled people. Thus local authorities should make policies according to local situations.

Since 2001, more than 37,000 administrative examination and approval items have either been canceled or adjusted, 68.2 percent of the total prior to that year. In 2011, Guangdong province began to actively explore purchasing public services from social organizations, while the Beijing civil affairs bureau launched reforms of its six affiliated social organizations this summer. These have provided experience for the transformation of local government functions and institutional reform.

The key issues of transformation and reform are to enhance market supervision, increase the level of social management, and improve the ability to supply public services. Modern government has four basic functions: economic regulation, market supervision, social management and public services. Generally speaking, macroeconomic regulation is under the purview of the central government, while local governments are responsible for market supervision, social management and the provision of public services.

The new reforms should improve the efficiency of public services and social management by re-engineering the process of government. The development and transition to digital government has brought great changes to the organization and administrative management of government, and will help local governments change their public service supply mode from organization-oriented to citizen-oriented. With the development of digital government, the participation of citizens has become more and more important. Digital autonomy will help local governments improve their service quality, reduce the costs of public services and satisfy citizens' demands. This will enhance the credibility of governments and local governments should change their public service supply mode from organization-oriented to citizen-oriented.

Moreover, when it comes to public affairs, local governments should handle their own relations with enterprises, social sectors and citizens and other governments at different levels. Local governments, enterprises, social organizations and citizens should all play leading roles in public affairs together.

In this process, governments will turn from being producers and leaders into coordinators.

Local governments should change their traditional administrative thinking mode, promote the participation of social organizations in providing basic public services, and encourage enterprises to fulfill their social responsibilities.

To realize the goal of transformation and reform, local governments should make practical reform plans that suit the local conditions, the relations between central government and local governments should be further straightened and the central government and local governments should work together to pay for services such as healthcare, pensions and education. Meanwhile, government personnel reform should be accelerated to meet the needs of local development, grassroots social management and public services, with their evaluation system centered on the degree of citizen satisfaction. A sound evaluation system based on whether the people's needs have been met would enable problems to be found and solved in a timely manner.

The author is a professor and vice-director of the policy consultation department at the Chinese Academy of Governance.

(China Daily 11/05/2013 page9)