“乡镇政府改革”刍议

Reform of Village and Township Government

近年以"撤并"为主要内容的乡镇政府改革被视为解决县乡财政困难的有效举措。为此,有必要就乡镇政府改革的三大问题进行辨析,即乡镇政府改革是撤并乡镇还是功能重构?是撤并乡镇以做大求规模效益还是注重小政府以求公共服务的质量责任和回应性?是对上(上级政府)负责的压力驱动型体制还是对下(本地居民)负责的需求导向型体制?以此来审视和反思当前我国的乡镇政府改革,结论是:"撤并式"乡镇政府改革效果有限。

Reform of village and township government in recent years , with an emphasis on “removal and merger” , has been considered an effective means to resolve financial difficulties at county and village level. With this regard , the author analyses three issues in the reform： Is the reform removal and merger of villages and towns or function restructuring？ Should we remove or merge them to achieve economies of scale , or focus on small government to seek accountability and respon- siveness of public services？ Is it a pressure - pushing system accountable to higher - level government or a needs - often- ted system accountable to local residents？ This paper rethinks the current reform of village and township government from these perspectives and concludes that the “removal and merger” reform has only achieved limited results.