Introduction
State administrative management plays a crucial role in the development of Vietnam’s market economy under the socialist orientation. Alongside the concentration of resources, the strengthening and improvement of the state management system are of paramount importance, including the role of state administrative management activities. This involves organizing and coordinating the most basic functions and tasks of the state in social management. Therefore, it is crucial to promote the decentralization of state administrative management in Vietnam today as it significantly contributes to enhancing the effectiveness of the operations of administrative agencies and organizations in Vietnam.
Understanding State Administrative Management
In general, management is the act of influencing and directing a system to ensure its orderly and appropriate development in line with the intended rules. Based on this understanding, state management can be understood as a form of social management that contains the power of the state and utilizes that power to regulate relationships, ensuring the maintenance and development of order. This, in turn, ensures the implementation of the functions and tasks of the state.
State administrative management is the administrative activity of state power enforcement agencies (judicial power) to manage and operate various sectors of social life according to the provisions of the law, which are the government and people’s committees at all levels. Although the system of agencies, legislative, judicial, and prosecutorial powers does not belong to the system of state administrative management, they also have administrative work within their operational mechanisms, such as the civil service regime, organizational personnel work, and this work must also comply with the unified regulations of the state administrative system. Administrative power has two contents:
- Legislative enactment is carried out by issuing legally binding documents to guide the implementation of the law.
- Administrative management is the organization, management, and coordination of economic-social activities to implement the law in society.
Therefore, state administrative management can be understood as the enforcement of state administrative power, which is the organized and regulated impact through state legal power on social relations and legal order to carry out the functions and tasks of the state in the process of building socialism and protecting the socialist homeland, by the administrative agencies in the administrative management system from the central government to the people’s committees at the local level.
Characteristics of State Administrative Management:
1. State Administrative Management is a State Power Activity:
State power is the most basic characteristic that distinguishes state administrative management from other social management activities. State power in state administrative management is first manifested in the fact that the competent authorities express the will of the state through certain means, in which the basic and particularly important means used are administrative documents. By issuing documents, the administrative management authorities express their will in the form of policies, legal regulations to guide the construction and application of laws, as well as specific provisions to implement them in practice. It is through these documents that the administrative management authorities express their will, carry out the orientation and adjustment of social relationships, ensuring the implementation of laws.
2. State Administrative Management is carried out by Authorities with Administrative Power:
According to the provisions of the law, the subjects of state administrative management in Vietnam include state administrative agencies and their officials, heads of state agencies, state officials, individuals, or social organizations authorized by the state to carry out administrative management in certain areas. Thus, the object of state administrative management is the social relationships that arise in all fields, within the lives of the people, and within the internal affairs of state agencies. Through this, it can be determined that the subjects of state administrative management aim at managing the state’s administrative order in the administrative field.
Legislation is one of the three powers of unified state power that has political power. The government, as the highest executive agency (the executive agency of the National Assembly), exercises the highest legislative power over the people and society as a whole. However, the government performs its functions through the state administrative system’s main political institution. Administration is a political power; state administrative management is the implementation of political power, it obeys and serves political power, but it itself is not political power.
3. State Administrative Management is an Execution-Coordination Activity of the State:
The combination of execution and coordination has formed a unified entity in the content of state administrative management activities. This is also a fundamental characteristic that distinguishes state administrative management from legislative and judicial activities.
The execution reflects the purpose of the state administrative management process, which is to ensure that the legal documents issued by the state power agencies are implemented in practice. This is demonstrated in the fact that all state administrative management activities must be carried out on a legal basis and for the purpose of implementing the law. Besides, the coordination is manifested in the fact that the administrative management authorities must organize and directly guide the management subjects regarding the implementation of the law, realizing the rights and obligations of the parties in the management relationship, directing the activities, ensuring the application of the law in practice, directly managing, directing and guiding the activities of the parties involved in the management.
The coordination of state administrative management activities is also demonstrated in that the competent authorities have the power to organize and carry out the implementation of the law in social life. In this process, these authorities not only carry out the law themselves but, more importantly, they undertake the function of commanding to operate the activities of the agencies and units under a unified process, organizing to ensure that all relevant parties implement the law to realize the rights and obligations of the parties involved in the management. At the same time, they are also responsible for making legal documents enter into life, be specifically and accurately applied.
4. State Administrative Management is Proactive and Creative:
Based on the situation, characteristics of each managed object, as well as the conditions and factors surrounding each specific case, the administrative management authorities can set appropriate management policies and measures.
The proactive and creative nature is also evident in the construction and issuance of legal documents in the field of state administrative management. This is a characteristic that exists due to the complexity, diversity, and richness of the managed objects, as well as the demand to effectively solve various situations that arise. However, being proactive and creative does not exceed the scope of the established law.
5. State Administrative Management is Continuous:
The system of state administrative management agencies is closely linked and unified from the central to the local level, operating on the principle of centralized democracy. This means that the lower level complies with the upper level, implements regular checks by the upper level, and, at the same time, the upper level listens to the opinions of the lower level. The lower level has the right to be proactive and creative, the authority to organize and implement the law appropriately.
Different from legislative and judicial activities, state administrative management always needs to be continuous, timely, and flexible to meet the continuous movement of social life. This characteristic is considered an important basis for establishing regulations on the organization and operation, civil servant regime, and public service of the state administrative system, creating a streamlined administrative apparatus, with an active, creative, decisive, and responsible civil servant team for their activities.
On the other hand, organizing the structure of state administrative management agencies into a unified system also contributes to ensuring the legal nature in administrative activities. Different from legislative and judicial activities, state administrative management always needs to be continuous, timely, and flexible to meet the continuous movement of social life.
To sum up, state administrative management is an important aspect of ensuring the development and maintenance of social order. By understanding the concepts and characteristics of state administrative management, we can better appreciate its role and importance in society.
