从对立到共促:问责机制与基层避责的关系转向——以基层政府减贫实践为讨论中心

From Antagonism to Co-promotion:The Turn of the Relationship between Accountability Mechanism and Responsibility Avoidance at the Grass-roots Level:Focusing on the Practice of Poverty Alleviation by Grass-roots Governments

完善的问责机制不仅是消解基层避责的重要手段,更是推进基层治理体系和治理能力现代化的关键抓手。然而,地方政府在强化问责机制过程中出现了问责过度“工具化”的现象,致使基层政府倾向采用事前避责、被动避责等应对策略。基层治理中的政府权责失衡和行为主体的有限理性共同引起了基层避责的倾向,而非正式关系、信息不对称和利益一致则为基层避责行为提供了可行空间。基层避责与问责不是“问题—手段”的单向关系,在问责消除基层避责的同时,基层避责也能推动问责的客体行为价值认知重塑、主体成效考核方式以及运行机制调适优化。需要结合治理实际需求优化问责制度的顶层设计、强化问责执行中的内部沟通、正视基层治理主体的有限理性特征,在优化问责机制和规避基层避责行为过程中,应寻找二者关系平衡的关键点。

A sound accountability mechanism is not only an important means to eliminate responsibility avoidance at the grass-roots level, but also a key starting point to promote the modernization of the grass-roots governance system and governance capacity.However, the excessive "instrumentalization" of accountability in strengthening the accountability mechanism by local governments has caused grass-roots governments toeither avoid responsibility beforehand or passively avoid responsibility.The imbalance of government power and responsibility in grass-roots governance and the limited rationality of behavioral agents together give rise to the grass-roots responsibility avoidance, while informal relations, information asymmetry and consistency of interests provide a feasible space for it.Grass-roots responsibility avoidance and accountability are not in a one-way "problem-means" relationship.While accountability eliminates grass-roots responsibility avoidance, grass-roots responsibility avoidance can also promote the cognition of the value of the object behavior of accountability, the way of subject effectiveness assessment and the adjustment and optimization of the operating mechanism.It is necessary to optimize the top-level design of the accountability system according to the actual needs of governance, strengthen the internal communication in the implementation of accountability, face up to the limited rational characteristics of the governance subjects at the grass-roots level, and look for the key points of the balance between the two in the process of optimizing the accountability mechanism and evading responsibility avoidance at the grass-roots level.