UNIT 2: GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION (1)

1. REVIEW OF UNIT 1

Activity 1: Groupwork

What is/are the difference(s) between administration and public administration?

Activity 2: Vocabulary revision

1. List any words that describe public administration:

government

1. Pronunciation practice: Read aloud the words you have listed. Make word – stress clear.

1. TEXTS AND PRACTICE

Activity 3: Pre-reading of Text 1

1. Answer this question: What do you understand by the term “governance”?
2. Make a list of things you would like to learn about governance.
3. Match the words on the left with their Vietnamese equivalents on the right:

Activity 4: Reading comprehension

Skim through the following text. What is its topic?

TOPIC: ................................................................................................................................................

1. Governance and development are currently viewed as intertwined. Good government is both a means and pre-condition of development and a development objective, bringing better quality of life. Development or economic growth is no longer solely a matter of economics and cannot be achieved by pulling a few economic levers.
2. In many countries, development efforts are undertaken in the context of strategies to achieve political stability, institution-building, popular participation and advocating human rights. While the goals of development, democracy and political stability may appear conflicting at times, there is a widespread desire among most people around the world for participation in the government, justice in the way they are treated and for a fair share of the benefits of economic progress.
3. The reform of government and improvement of governance often go hand in hand with reform and improvement of the economy. Economic reform without attention to the system of government will not give results unless a functioning and efficient government machine can be created and nurtured to generate support and sustain development efforts.
4. In practical terms, only a reformed government and improved governance can provide a reasonable amount of political stability, political and economic guidelines and an enabling framework of law for the development, operation and growth of private sector and market-oriented policies.
5. It is usually good government that is likely to institutionalize democracy through fair elections, provide an adequate system of police protection and a fair and impartial judiciary to guarantee the rule of law, place safeguards against patronage and corruption, arrange social services and a safety net for the poor and disadvantaged in society, provide infrastructure and utility services, and maintain a system of property rights so that individuals can enjoy the fruits of their labor without endangering the social goals.

Activity 5: What is the main idea?

Read again to find the most important ideas in each paragraph. (While reading ignore all the new words). For example:

Paragraph 1: Governance and development are currently viewed as intertwined.

Paragraph 2:........................................................................................................................................

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Paragraph 3:........................................................................................................................................

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Paragraph 4: ........................................................................................................................................

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Paragraph 5: ........................................................................................................................................

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Activity 6: Vocabulary work

1. Pair up words or phrases so that they make logical units:

1. Choose the correct word/expression to complete each sentence:
2. Nowadays, gender and ……………………….attract much attention from both academics and practitioners of public administration.
3. government
4. development
5. economics
6. It can be said that one of the major achievements of Vietnam in its transition is political ……………………..
7. rights
8. environment
9. stability
10. There is an obvious need to link administrative reforms with other reforms such as legal, ……………………., and SOEs reforms.
11. economic
12. service
13. enterprise
14. Alongside the state and civil society, …………………………. plays a vital role in governance issues.
15. the public sector
16. the private sector
17. industries

Activity 7: Sentence building

Write a complete sentence using each suggested word or phrase below in context.

Example:   democracy                    The goals of development, democracy and political stability

                                                                may appear conflicting at times.

1.   no longer                                      ...........................................................................................................

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2.   institution-building                   ...........................................................................................................

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3.   human rights                              ...........................................................................................................

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4.   justice                                            ...........................................................................................................

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5.   economic guidelines                 ...........................................................................................................

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6.   to enable smth                           ...........................................................................................................

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7.   to institutionalize democracy ..........................................................................................................                

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8.   election                                          ...........................................................................................................

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9.   to endanger smth                     ...........................................................................................................

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10.   to guarantee smth                 ...........................................................................................................

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Activity 8: Summary

1. Summarize the text in 5 sentences:

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1. Summarize the same text again in 3 sentences:

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Activity 9: Fast reading

Read to locate the following ideas: which paragraph? Write the number of the paragraph in the box:

Activity 10: Oral practice

Put the five ideas above into English. Don’t translate word for word.

Activity 11: Sentence structure

Economic reform without attention to the system of government will not result unless a functioning and efficient government machine can be created.

Câu này có hai mệnh đề: Mệnh đềchính là “Economic reform will not result”. Cụm giới từ“without attention to the system of government” bổnghĩa cho chủngữeconomic reform, nói rõ lại “cải cách kinh tếnào (cải cách kinh tếmà không quan tâm đến hệthống chính phủ). Mệnh đềphụ“unless a functioning and efficient government machine can be created” là mệnh đềđiều kiện bắt đầu bằng “unless”. Toàn bộcâu này là câu điều kiện thực, động từtrong mệnh đềđiều kiện ởthời hiện tại đơn giản (can be created), động từtrong mệnh đềchính là “will + V (will (not) result)”