Abstract:

As a special construction of China’s governance at the grassroots, grid managementcan deliver the last mile of policy implementation. However, a theoretical blind spot still exists in how it promotes the implementation of public policies at the grassroots. Using policy network theory, this paper examines B Community in W City as a typical case to deconstruct in detail the internal mechanism of how grid management promoted the implementation of public policies at the grassroots. The study found that grid management achieves the precise implementation of public policies at the grassroots through a four-dimensional coordination mechanism. 1) Structural coordination allows grid management to dynamically adapt the policy network structure of the “intergovernmental network-problem network” as required by the rigidity of the policy goals, resource distribution, and power balance threshold. 2) Process coordination provides grid management with the tools to absorb and transform existing game strategies among actors through rule internalization, power adjustment, and value reshaping, driving the evolution of the policy networks. 3) Technical coordination empowers grid management to control processes through digital technology to eliminate information barriers, algorithm technology to constrain administrative discretion, blockchain technology to build a trust chain, and intelligent technology to improve response accuracy, reshaping network interaction regulation. 4) Effectiveness coordination in grid management is reflected in the dynamic balance between the efficiency and legitimacy of policy networks. This research not only supplements policy network theory on the dynamic adaptation mechanism of network structure, but also expands the theoretical cluster to the peripheral execution of public policy in China.

Key words: public policy implementation, grid management, policy network, governance at the grassroots, case study