International Public Management Review
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Curbing Tax Evasion in Singapore: The Role of Governance and Corporate Governance Standards in the Tax Agency
Get PDFThis article introduces a simple framework to link corruption, corporate governance and tax evasion. It argues that attempts to mitigate tax evasion have to incorporate measures to curb corruption in the public sector and raise the standard of corporate governance in the tax agency. The proposition is tested by means of a case study, involving Singapore’s tax agency, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore. The article makes recommendations so that tax compliance could be encouraged with the greatest possible benefits
Does Public Servants’ Low Trust in Citizen Raters Really Matter? Evidence from Mainland China
Get PDFThis article examines the trust that public servants have in Chinese citizens using a typical public service rating and ranking system: the Assessment and Discussion of Professional Ethos (ADPE). We pose questions on whether public servants expressed concerns about trusting citizens as raters, whether the seemingly low interest of citizens in rating means that their ratings are reliable, what the relationship was between low trust and the citizens, whether the ADPE was an incentive, and public service responsiveness after the ADPE had been completed. These questions are assessed by (1) a content analysis of official and scholastic ADPE articles, (2) a survey of municipal officials in Yuncheng City where an ADPE operated for several years and (3) the opinions of interviewees. The content analysis reveals that public servants seemed to trust citizens, but the survey data reveals that the opposite might be true. Nevertheless, low trust in citizens did not affect either public service responsiveness or incentivization. Using a gaming perspective, we argue that the ADPE might be an ineffective institutional arrangement. We suggest methods for eliminating public servants lack of trust that include enhancing the value of trust shown in citizens, making trust matter, developing techniques to select citizens experienced in using public services for rankings, and enhancing the transparency of the rating information
From Public Infrastructure to National Economic Growth: Do Systematic Investment Practices Matter?
Get PDF This paper investigates the path effects of systematic government investment on national growth. We build a theory where government investment practices, along with other institutional variables, affect the quality of a country’s core public infrastructure sys-tem. This, in turn, positively affects national productivity. Using the path analysis meth-od, we test our theoretical framework on a sample of data drawn from 25 developing economies during the period from 1990 to 2000. The results suggest that a unit increase in systematic public investment practices indirectly enhances national productivity with an increase of about 15 in a country’s real per capita GDP through the better condition and service capacity of a country’s core public infrastructure
Governing without Collaboration: State and Civil Society Relations in Jamaica
Get PDFThis study finds infrequent collaborative action between state and civil society actors in Jamaica. Jamaica’s predominant institutional structure is authority-based. Relations between state and civil society actors may be considered consultative, at best. The Jamaican case sits in contrast to a collaborative governance scholarship largely focused upon successful collaborative cases. Theoretical development within collaborative governance research might benefit from more developing-country case studies, greater attention to historical explanations, and a broadened collaborative continuum. The presence of a consultative (but not collaborative) relationship may indicate a country’s location at a midway point between authority-based and collaboratively-governed systems. Postulating about why a state has non-collaborative relationship will deepen our understanding of what is required for collaboration to occur
Book Review: Avant D, Fennimore, M. & Sell, S.K, 2010. Who Governs the Globe? New York: Cambridge University Press.
Get PDFFor those immersed in grand International Relations (IR) theory couched in the structural/ functional paradigm of the 80's, this book is indeed iconoclastic. The paradigm informing traditional International Relations theory supported the bi-polar world view during the cold war. It then proceeded to support the shift to a multipolar view based on the geo-political power balance among leading states, their clubs and then the inclusion of state groupings as the non-aligned nations and more recently emerging countries such as those making up the BRICS cluster. Modern IR theory represented by this book has essentially replaced the key concept of balanced geo-political state power with global governance based on pluralism of global players
Comment from the Editor of IPMR Symposium Issue
Get PDFThe articles in this issue of IPMR are intended to be of interest to both academics and practitioners who are either involved in or are students of business process transformation in government to enhance their understanding of the inherent challenges faced in such change. The focus of this symposium edition is on Business Process Transformation in the U.S. Federal Government and the Department of Defense (DOD). The articles provide valuable information regarding past practices and policies, important recent transformational initiatives and real-world accounts of outcomes and organizational challenges as a result of these initiatives
Public Management and Performance-Based Logistics in the U.S. Department of Defense
Get PDFA central concept in the evolution of public management has been an intentional blurring of the distinctions between the public and private sectors. In the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), the Performance-Based Logistics (PBL) initiative, launched in 2001, is intended to create a “level playing field” where in-house or contracted organizations are selected for logistics support of a given commodity or weapon system based on performance rather than the nature of the source. This article provides a preliminary discussion of PBL initiatives and assesses the extent to which they appear to be representative of a significant adoption of public management principles by DOD leaders. This review found that while individual DOD organizations have experienced successes and significant lessons learned with PBL, there are significant areas where policy direction remains contradictory and embryonic
Transforming Business Systems Funding Processes through Budgetary Controls and Culture Change
No full textThis article provides analysis of transformational action taken by the leadership of a Unified Combatant Command in the Department of Defense (DOD) to change their budget processes and controls, and the way they fund their Information Technology systems. Senior leadership in the United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) took deliberate action to counter the traditional manner in which business systems in the DOD and USTRANSCOM have been funded. Given the ongoing and costly war on terrorism, leaders and managers can no longer afford the luxury of having component, division, or even Service-unique business systems (also meaning information technology and financial systems) that are unable to effectively integrate with operational systems. The savings, or cost avoidance, potential is dramatic and in some cases could be applied directly to requirements of our warfighting forces, or at the very least could help offset the growing national deficit. Actions taken by leaders at USTRANSCOM resulted in transformational changes in the way they fund their business systems, which may ultimately lead to more lasting cultural change in their command and perhaps even throughout the DOD. Thus far, it has every indication of being a success story that is worth analysis and that suggests fundamental processes and budgetary controls that may be applied throughout the department and to other government agencies as a way to effect transformational change in their budget processes
Revenue Sources of Palastinian Municipalities: Finance Officers explain Reality and Possibilities
Get PDFPerhaps no other area of the world has experienced the persistent economic and political strife that has been a hallmark of the Middle East. A holy land for three of the world’s major religions, the areas now known as Israel and Palestine have been the center of much of this conflict. A primary source of discord over the past fifty years has been the establishment and continued existence of the Israeli state, and the status of Palestinian residents within this state. Historic strides toward peace have occurred since 1993, though, as Israeli and Palestinian representatives have met face to face for the first time to negotiate Palestinian self-government
Fiscal Preferences and Fiscal Performance: Swiss Cantonal Evidence
Get PDF The growing support to the view that political and institutional settings have a role to play ensuring fiscal performance has paradoxically been accompanied by an increasing lack of confidence about the results achieved. It could be possible that budgetary institutions are endogenous, and their apparent efficiency finally depends on the fiscal preferences of voters and politicians that enact them. We propose a measure of fiscal preferences based on cantonal voters' behavior regarding federal referenda with fiscal content between 1979 and 1998. The empirical model shows that fiscal preferences have a strong inverse effect on fiscal performance: the more a canton is fiscal conservative, the less it accepts deficits, ceteris paribus