民评官:以横向问责强化纵向问责

Public Evaluation of Government Building Horizontal Accountability to Enhance Vertical Accountability

威权主义、对上负责是中国政府官僚系统中的责任体系的最大特征。纯粹从逻辑上讲,在对上问责的官僚体制下,地方政府和官员并无关注民意的激励和动力。然而实际上,自上世纪90年代以来,全国许多地方政府纷纷开展群众评议机关(万人评议活动)、公民参与政府绩效评估、在干部考核评价中设置群众满意度调查等形式的"民评官"探索,主动将民意因素引入到政府官僚系统的责任体系中来。其动力何在?本文借鉴政治问责理论,通过对S市开展领导干部社会化评价的案例分析,发展出一个解释:地方政府主动开展"民评官"方式的公众参与活动,是为了应对纵向问责机制出现的自上而下官僚控制失灵问题,实质是利用横向问责强化纵向问责,即官僚领导层意愿借助民意进一步加强对下属官僚的政治约束。当前由政府主导、民意吸纳有限的"民评官",短期内还不足以改变对上负责的官僚系统责任体系。

It is assumed that China is governed by an authoritarian regime. In principle, the officials only need to be responsible for their superiors. But actually in many localities of China, experiments have been conducted in the use of certain civic--engagement--oriented horizontal accountability, including civic engagement in the performance evaluation of the public sector and using satisfaction survey in cadre evaluation. Based on a case study, this article attempts to examine the impact of Public Evaluation of Government in China. It is proved that Public Evaluation of Government with various public scrutiny instruments does help to form government agencies＇ responsiveness to the public, and it is more accurate to frame the mechanism of building horizontal accountability to enhance vertical accountability.