Comparing Public Service Values in Taiwan Bureaucracy and the Spirit of New Public Service: An Exploratory Survey
Hsiu-Chuan Tsai*
Abstract
Public administration theories and practices have experienced dramatic changes, and new developments are on the way. After experiencing a paradigm shift from traditional public administration perspectives to New Public Management approaches, we are now witnessing an emerging third school. This third school, focusing on civil servants' and government's responsibility to uphold democratic and social criteria, is called New Public Service.
Taiwan has been in a period of democratic transition since the prior authoritarian government lifted martial law in 1987. Because many traces of influence from this regime are still found in some Taiwanese government agencies, whether Taiwanese bureaucratic values correspond to the democratic government ideas of the New Public Service needs to be explored.
This paper used the data of the 2008 Taiwan Government Bureaucrats Survey to answer the above question. In sum, this paper finds out "democracy" is not always considered the most important value of public service by Taiwanese bureaucrats.
Keywords: New Public Service, democratic governance, public service value
*Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Soochow University.
E-mail: janetsai@scu.edu.tw.
http://www.exam.gov.tw/public/Data/012911285671.pdf