Research On The Logic Of Government Action In Purchasing Public Services From Civil Society Organization

After over a decade of practice,the purchase of public services has failed to achieve the desired results with regard to both the supply of public services and the development of civil society organizations.In view of this,it is necessary to reflect on the actions taken by the government as the leading role,the effects and the underlying logic.Thinking about this problem can enrich the perspective of the research on the relationship between the government and civil society organizations,and provide suggestions on the purchase of public services.Domestic research focuses on micro-analysis and case study,and lacks a concise summary of the logic of government action.With the help of the theory of governance,the theory of state-social relations and the organizational theory of new institutionalism,the dissertation focuses on the logic of government action in purchasing public services from civil society organizations,and an analytical framework is formed from four aspects: field,subject,process and result.Questionnaire survey and interview were conducted in Shanghai,Jiangsu and Jiangxi,and the research was carried out in combination with literature analysis.Firstly,this dissertation abstracts two principal points of the field of purchasing public services: separation and absence,autonomy and constraint.Secondly,the dissertation analyzes the features of the three parties in the purchase of public services.Thirdly,this dissertation summarizes government behavior from three aspects: purchase decision,process supervision and relationship management.Fourthly,the dissertation analyzes the behaviors of civil society organizations and the influences on the output of public services and the development of civil society organizations.In the end,the dissertation summarizes the logic of government action as functional enhancement--institutional absorption behavior.Functional enhancement is to make full use of the ability of civil society organizations to provide public services.Institutional absorption is the multi-strategy expansion of asymmetric dependence in the process of purchasing public services.On the other hand,to promote the party building of civil society organizations(not limited to civil society organizations that participate in the purchase of public services),in a two-pronged approach,civil society organizations should become long-term collaborators in the supply of public services and eliminate underlying challenges to the authority of the government.The dissertation holds that functional enhancement--institutional absorption behavior is an evolutionary version of the government's supervision of civil society organizations in a specific field,which reflects the technological growth of government control.This dissertation argues that functional enhancementinstitutional absorption behavior expands the conflict between autonomy and restraint,which separates instrumental rationality from value rationality and also brings about the involution of civil society organizations.This is contrary to the direction of social governance.Based on the theory of governance,the author considers that the logical of government behavior should be modified into active cultivation--cooperative supply.Considering the huge resource advantage of the government over civil society organizations,the government should take the initiative in institutional supply,which includes reducing asymmetric dependence,shrinking priority,innovating pattern,introducing public participation and so on.Possible innovations of this research are as follows: firstly,it proposes a meaningful core issue,focusing on the logic of government action in purchasing public services from civil society organizations;secondly,a holistic analysis framework is constructed.The dissertation abstracts the key features in the process of purchasing public services,and theoretically explains the logic of government action in purchasing public services.Thirdly,the dissertation states the hidden process of government control.The dissertation also reveals the involution of civil society organizations,the dissertation also puts forward some policy suggestions.