Does “Good Governance” Matter? Civil Service Reform in China

This article uses the concept of governance proposed to evaluate civil service reform in China. The article examines the objectives of the reform and queries the value of promoting the practices of “good governance.” While emphasizing good governance, the reform cannot achieve the ultimate objectives of “good governance” practices because the administration is not sufficiently insulated from political influence. Political considerations often prevail over sound personnel practices when important staffing decisions are made. The concern for reciprocity undermines a performance appraisal system with a feature of being more discriminating. It is argued that without a more comprehensive structural reform to improve the implementation structure of Chinese government, following doctrines of governance do not necessarily bring about high administrative efficiency and capacity.