Abstract:

The innovation of local governance mechanisms involves two approaches: the “bottom-up” approach, where public demands capture government attention, and the “top-down” approach, where bureaucratic pressure drives higher-level initiatives. The implementation of the grid governance model by local governments in China exemplifies the integration of these two approaches. However, natural villages in rural areas are emotionally interconnected communities and may not be entirely compatible with the widely implemented grid governance model. County D has developed a new local governance mechanism called the “Sanwang Ronghe.” It leverages the “personal social network” of rural comprehensive managers, enhancing villagers' acceptance of administrative authority and facilitating the timely collection of raw information to respond to public demands. By embedding the hierarchical system within the personal social network, this mechanism achieves a distinct feature: the vertical integration of administrative power into the horizontally operating social and cultural networks. It utilizes the long-term and stable personal networks of rural comprehensive managers to effectively incorporate diverse non-institutional actors into the governance system. This approach harmonizes both pressure-driven and demand-driven governance mechanisms, enhancing the effectiveness of rural local governance with a sense of “warmth.” It also challenges the theoretical assumption of a binary opposition between the state and society.

Key words: local governance, hierarchical system, personal social network, rural comprehensive manager