Loss And Remodeling Of Government Credibility During The Period Of Social Transformation In China

At present, our society is in transition, the old order is vanishing, and the new one has not been established, therefore the interest conflicts of all social sections have become increasingly evident. Besides, the increasing political demands of public participation, frequent public emergencies and the rise of network politics have posed a serious challenge to the public governance and the government’s credibility.The paper is theoretically based on academic achievements at home and abroad and the results of network questionnaire provide support to the theme. Namely the definition, characteristics and evaluation criterion of government credibility is built on the comparison between the east and the west. Then the paper focuses on the credibility crisis which concludes from several cases. Finally, the paper will give out correspondent suggestions from aspects of value guidance, institution design and ethics construction.There are six chapters in this paper.Chapter one introduces the background and value of this theme. It outlines the frame, research method, research difficulties and innovations of the article on the basis of study at home and abroad from vertical and horizontal sides.Chapter two explores the definition and theoretical foundation of government credibility. To be exact, the definition, characteristics and evaluation criterion of government credibility is established on the relative theoretical achievements---social contract theory, social capital theory and good governance theory. The government credibility refers to the credibility to realize public interests based on the incomplete contract between the government and the public. Its characteristics displays in the following:the government credibility is produced from social interaction; it is a kind of moral ability and it is hard to obtain but easy to lose. Of course the evaluation criterion of government credibility should follow the public value criterion and the apparentness, honesty and high efficiency, lawfulness and democracy, accountability can be used as the criterion from the research. Chapter three states the characteristics and the whole situation of government credibility crisis during the transition period in China by the case of Qidong. Unfortunately the government credibility meets crisis. Only1.86%people feel very satisfied with the government performance. While7.85%have opposite evaluation. What’s more worse,89.78%people choose not to believe the news published by government at all. The distrust of the government leads to the leakage of the government credibility which is the key cause of group events, among which Qidong case is the most typical one in2012. The characteristics of government credibility crisis in China are insufficient publicity, lack of standardization and inappropriate management method. The phenomenon of disobeying the law,"superior has the policy, inferior has the countermeasure" and inconsistence is frequent.In chapter four we try to find out the reason of the government credibility crisis from the surrounding background, objective elements, subjective and technical elements. And we find that the authority loss during the social transition is the background. The self-interest character of the government prompts the loss of government credibility. Objectively the awakening of citizenship and the primordial stage of citizen society weaken government management ability. From the angel of technique, the network breaks the control of public opinion by government.In chapter five, we put forward some advice from three dimensions:value orientation, path choice and ethnics construction. The publicity of government administration is vital to the reconstruction of government credibility, thus the authority should be returned to society. And the good governance should be regard as the aim which defines the path of reconstruction:first, there should he definite role and limited government; second, perform official duties according to law; third, enlarge public participation; fourth, improve information apparent; and fifth, strengthen accountability and responsibility. In addition, shape the administrative personality.Chapter six comes to the conclusion.