Public Service Reform in East Asia – Reform Issues and Challenges in Japan, Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong

Public service reform, or public sector reform, has been a hot topic among political scientists in recent years as most existing government structures are inadequate to cope with the ever-changing environments of globalism in terms of capital and technology. This is particularly true among Asian countries where the traditional bureaucracy has been strong as compared to a relatively weak sense of community. Traditional relations between government, the business sector and labour, which slowly have taken shape in the last two decades, are now once again challenged through de-colonialization in Hong Kong, democratization in Korea, decentralization in Singapore and technological innovation in Japan.

This timely collection addresses a variety of selected reform issues confronted by these four developed Asian economies. The areas of reform covered range from human resource management, financial management and pay reform, to central agency role, service improvements, private sector involvement and political accountability.

Anthony B. L. Cheung is a Professor in the Department of Public and Social Administration at the City University of Hong Kong. He also serves concurrently as associate director in charge of the "Institutions and Management" stream at the University's Governance in Asia Research Centre. His research interests include public sector reforms in China and Hong Kong, governance reform in Asia, and the politics of reform. He is co-editor of two recent books, Governance and Public Sector Reform in Asia: Paradigm Shift or Business As Usual? (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003) and Public Sector Reform in Hong Kong: Into the 21st Century (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 2001).