University of Heidelberg

Panel "Rethinking Reform" in Hong Kong

01. Feb. 2012

The Junior Research Group A4 “Bureaucracies”, coordinated by Dr. Susan Richter, organised a  panel on “Rethinking Reform” in Hong Kong. The panel was part of the 3rd Annual Conference of the Asian Association for Public Administration (AAPA), held from 10 to 11 February 2012 at the Hong Kong Institute of Education.

The panel “Rethinking Reform: Strategies of Administrative Change in Asia and Europe since the Eighteenth Century” explored the early historical origins of public administration in Asia, which grew out a complex amalgamation of European models and various indigenous practices within various Asian political entities. Papers in this panel examined the multi-faceted nature of interactions between European and Asian agents underlying the transfer of ideas and institutions since the early modern era. 

In this panel session, Susan Richter, Junior Research Group Leader and Deputy Speaker of Research Area A, spoke on “The Discourse on Sale of Offices in German State Theory and the Chinese Model”. Her paper discussed the institutionalised sale of offices as one of the most important “technologies of power” of German princes and enlightenment strategies to reduce such practices.  She pointed out how the Chinese administration was recognised as a role model with the potential to offer guidance to the German territories. Susan Richter’s doctoral candidate Sebastian Meurer gave a talk on “Administrative Knowledge and Crisis Management in British India”. He argued that the emergence of the Indian Civil Service needs to be understood in the context of two separate crises in Great Britain and in British Bengal respectively. The doctoral candidate Nicolas Schillinger presented a paper on “The ‘New Policy’ and Bureaucratic Reform in Early Twentieth Century China”. In his talk, he discussed the reasons, implications and impacts of reforms for Public Administration in China at a time when the Qing government replaced the ancient Confucian scholar-bureaucracy with a European ministerial administration. Danilo R. Reyes from the National College of Public Administration and Governance, University of the Philippines talked about  “Revisiting Meritocracy in Asian Settings: Dimensions of Colonial Influences and Indigenous Traditions”. Much of the present institutions, practices, systems and procedures, as well as value and behavioral patterns obtaining in public administration and human resources management among countries in the Asia-Pacific region today can generally be assumed as a rich sometimes uneasy blending of Western colonial and indigenous legacies. The impact of meritocracy as a value in administrative systems implanted during colonial times in these countries can be better understood and appreciated in analyzing the context of current practices, as framed within the demands for adaptation to suit the indigenous ethos.

The panel was held at the annual conference of the Asian Association for Public Administration (AAPA). Under the title “Administrative Innovation and Reform: Local Culture and Traditions, International Learning and Influence”, the conference got together scholars from around the world to examine the nature and history of Asian PA systems, as well as how contemporary Asian PA practices may serve as models for other countries. This year’s topic was inspired by “Migrating Ideas of Governance and Emerging Bureaucracies”, a conference organised by the Cluster’s research project A4 “Bureaucracies” in Beijing in September 2010.

Research project A4 “The Fascination of Efficiency: Migrating Ideas and Emerging Bureaucracies in Europe and Asia since the Early Modern Era” is coordinated by Susan Richter. It focuses on the studies of the history of bureaucratic structures in Asia and Europe, on asymmetric transfers between Western and Asian cultures, on shifts of notions, ideas and practices of administration as well as on their transformation in these different cultures.

The Asian Association for Public Administration (AAPA) was established in 2001.  It aims to expand and improve research and academic exchange on public administration and management in Asia.  Among the AAPA’s  key questions is how Asian administrative traditions and cultures may be used as a source for governance ethos and cultural vitality in order to further the development of PA both in the national and regional context.