China Inter-governmental Public Service Division Of Responsibilities

The definition of intergovernmental public service responsibility is the basis for the coordination and arrangements of intergovernmental fiscal relations, on which point there exists comprehensive consensus in both the theoretical circle and actual departments. Researches for this specific problem will be of profound significance to further deepen the reform of fiscal system and promote sustainable development of the harmonious and healthy intergovernmental fiscal relations.The establishment of a socialist market economic system calls for adequate solutions in both theory and practice for problems of how to define the government functions and how to achieve scientific and reasonable allocations of government public service functions within the multi-level government system, which is also the key issue for the transformation of government functions. The allocations of inter-governmental public service functions will basically determine the intergovernmental revenue, and then the government's delivery capacity and effectiveness of public service. Because of this, the allocation of inter-governmental public service responsibility is a basic part of the fiscal system reform. Through the research and analysis on the general rules for the allocation of inter-governmental public service responsibility, as well as the actual conditions in China, this paper made suggestions on the definition and adjustment of inter-governmental public service responsibility, focusing on mechanism construction.Research results abroad shows that economic theory provides a solid and reliable scientific basis for the definition of intergovernmental public service responsibility. But most researches abroad are based on the specific political system and political culture in Western countries, which is quite different from the actual conditions in China, so in some way, these researches is just for reference rather than practical guidance. Domestic researches demonstrates that first, these researches are basically confined to political science, law, economics and administration management in their respective fields with very few cross-disciplinary researches; second,the lack of systematic study. The vast majority of researches are focused on fiscal relations between central and local government, among which most are in the perspective of cooperative equilibrium between the so-called "routine power" and financial power and resources.This paper takes the most basic government function as the research base. First, "upward" analysis for the origin of government functions and the relationship between the state and the government. It was pointed out that the government exists for the sole reason, that is to be the representative of the state to deal with social and public affairs. In the unitary state, the central government holds the power for the definition of intergovernmental public service responsibility, but this power is not what the Government itself has as the "natural power", but rather is authorized by the highest national authorities. Accordingly, the paper discusses the nature and main functions of government, and pointed out that functions of the government should contain two meanings:First, to be as a border of the government and market in general; and second, to be the nature of function that the government itself has, which confirmed the generalized government functions is the provision of public services, including political stability, social development, economic growth, public welfare etc.Second, "downward" exploration for the forms of government functions, namely the Intergovernmental allocation of government's public service functions. It was pointed out that the definition and allocation of intergovernmental public service responsibility means in a multi-level government structure, according to the Constitution and the relevant legal system, through legal procedures, the subject of right or its authorized agencies make allocation, adjustment, valuation and other institutional arrangements for government's public service functions between multi-level governments, its practical purpose is to maximize the efficiency of the government, and to clearly define the scope and requirements of public services for government in each level to provide. As for the concept of "routine power" widely used in academia, the author thinks, in the context of the financial system study, the so-called government "routine power" is defined to be of no difference with government responsibility in meaning that defines what the government should do. As for China's current intergovernmental fiscal relations, the core issue is that the responsibility of public service the basic unit government bears does not match with the financial resources it owns. However, the definition of intergovernmental "routine power" can not solve the problem. The concept of "routine power" is defined as a kind of management authority, and is not an accurate expression of "public service delivery responsibility". Therefore, the "routine power " should not be opposite to the concept of "financial resource" or "financial power" concept, and should be replaced by the concept of "public service responsibility". Meanwhile, this paper analyzed a number of factors that would influence the definition of intergovernmental public service responsibility.Third, this paper takes mechanism construction as the core idea and developed a systematic analytical framework. The definition and adjustment mechanism of intergovernmental public service responsibility is a kind of institutional arrangements which is based on power as the center, guaranteed by the statutory procedures, and employ balance and coordination as the means to maximize the public interest. The main contents include the state's political system, the order of state power, order and structure of the intergovernmental authority, the subject and object for the definition of intergovernmental public service responsibility as well as the basic form of this mechanism. The ultimate goal of the definition of intergovernmental public service responsibility is to improve the efficiency of the government to perform its functions, and its general principles includes the legalized-system principle, market priority principle, the range of benefits principle, management efficiency principle, the principle of benefit spillovers, the principle to match public service responsibilities with financial resources.Fourth, to sum up and learn from experience and lessons of the definition and allocation of intergovernmental public service responsibility by foreign and domestic government. This paper argues that although different countries have model and approach for the definition of intergovernmental public service responsibility due to different forms of state structure, the practice of countries have some common characteristics, which is also valuable, such as the legalization degree of federal states, and intergovernmental coordination mechanisms in certain unitary countries,.Fifth, use the above analytical framework for the analysis of how to realize the definition of intergovernmental public service responsibility in China. In China, as for the definition of intergovernmental public service responsibility, the greatest feature is that all levels of government is characterized by the existence of dual leadership system, all the governments below the central level are led by both the State Department and the People's Congress at the corresponding level, making China's present government structure characterized as unified leadership, hierarchy management, and integration of departments and regions at different levels, hierarchy authority and the pressurized system. Through data analysis and field research in Hebei province, this article will present the problems China is facing now in the definition of intergovernmental public service responsibility, summarized in nine areas, and the causes of the problems are also analyzed.Finally, the proposal of the approach to the mechanism-construction of China's definition and adjustment of intergovernmental public service responsibility. This paper argues that as a mechanism construction, the definition and adjustment of intergovernmental public service responsibility should be fully integrated with China's actual condition of political, economic, cultural and social development under the guidance of theory with serious and scientific attitude, and should be implemented level by level and step by step.Based on the clarification of the objective and principle system as well as the basic approach to the definition and allocation of intergovernmental public service responsibility, this paper proposed the "four-step" optimization approaches to the definition and allocation of intergovernmental public service responsibility, and also gave relevant policy recommendations.