AMIDST THE SMOKE of the election battle, the Government Reform Committee has been established. The declared goal of reform has been reduced to cutting the number of ministries and councils through merger and elimination. Whether this is true government restructuring is a matter well worth our attention.
Government restructuring is restrained by very simple functionalist thinking, which focuses on the number of ministries and councils and their reconstruction. It also involves ideological considerations of factional interests. The true meaning of government restructuring lies in responding to the post-authoritarian period, turning the past authoritarian top-down way of governing around and building governance mechanisms in which civil society can also participate. This would help our democratic system mature and work more smoothly.
While eliminating and merging government agencies is not a bad thing, this kind of reform will not escape the "state-apparatus centrism" way of thinking. Government reform should be more active, shaping a governance framework aimed at the people and able to allow participation from various forces in civil society.
In such a governance framework, public, private and volunteer groups can create networks independently, and the government is only one actor in this network and not an authority over the rest. Its main task is to ensure the participants in the network can continue to interact, forming solutions to various problems according to the needs at the time. Within such a governance framework, authority would be decentralized. Public, private and volunteer groups can become interactive centers within this network, and solutions to issues would take into account all aspects. Also within this governance framework, actors are interdependent and not mutually exclusive. A governance network would be established by independent organizations, with the government restricted to helping the network.
For the government to be able to play this role it would need to adjust its own constitution, transforming itself into a business-style government. The building of a business-style government should be founded on:
-- Evaluating achievements according to goals and results.
-- Seeing the public as customers and consumers, and the relationship to the public as one of a service provider.
-- The superiority of policies emphasizing active rather than reactive measures.
-- Building decentralized mechanisms of authority and creating an environment of participation.
-- Introducing market mechanisms to stimulate competition and encourage legal profitmaking.
-- Being able to adjust and integrate public, private and volunteer groups into jointly solving problems.
The future of government restructuring must consider how to build a governing framework that allows all the forces of civil society to participate, otherwise reducing the number of government agencies will result in inflexibility in changing times and the possibility of functions being paralyzed.
A bit more "governance" and a bit less authoritarian "governing" is the only way we can further consolidate our move toward democratization. Otherwise, democratization will become just a slogan or a populist tool for challenging the government's authority.
This is the only way to avoid the vicious circle of growing, retracting and growing again.
Lee In-ming is a professor at the Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies, National Chengchi University.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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