The Challenges and Core Themes of Public Governance in the 21st century
Public governance in the 21st century faces great challenges:
i. Maintaining constitutional order and government stability:
Public administrators of the 21st century face the great challenge of preventing government collapse, establishing and developing constitutional order and achieving sound public governance.
ii. Maintaining and developing the basic values for a democratic society that upholds the rule of law in the field of public administration:
Public governance should commit itself to developing and promoting the legitimacy of democratic governance. It should safeguard the supremacy of values such as democracy, rule of law, freedom, human rights, public interest, social justice and due process. All these are closely linked to the legitimacy of public governance, the authority and credibility of government and the legitimacy of scientific public administration.
iii. Reaching an equilibrium between the role of the government and that of the market in order to improve public governance efficiency:
In the field of public administration, administrators face the challenge of balancing the role of government and the market through public administration and developing communication and dialogue between the public and private sector.
iv. Responding to the challenge of globalisation:
In this era of globalisation, a government needs consider the following issues: how can it defend national sovereignty and independence? How can it stimulate economic growth, whilst guaranteeing economic security? How can it preserve the nation’s cultural heritage and national identity while embracing cultural diversity?
