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    The Common Features and Chinese Characteristics of the Chinese Path to Modernization
    Chen Xiyan, Chen Lixu
    Governance Studies    2022, 38 (6): 23-30.  
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    The Report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that China’s “path to modernization is the socialist modernization led by the Communist Party of China. It has both the common features of the modernization of all countries and the Chinese characteristics based on its own national conditions.” The Chinese path to modernization is a model of modernization, with the common connotations and features of other modernizing countries. The characteristics of modernization may be the same across nations, but the path to achieving modernization is diverse and the western path is not the only model. China’s unique history, culture and basic national conditions such as “Late-developing”, “Parallel connection” and “Huge population”, mark the Chinese path to modernization with distinct characteristics. China must make its own development path suited to its characteristics. To promote Chinese-style modernization, China must “Always think of problems, make decisions and handle affairs in the light of its national conditions.”

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    The Institutional Guarantee and Optimization Path: the CPC’s Development of China’s Whole-Process People's Democracy
    Tang Huangfeng, Huang Xiaoshan
    Governance Studies    2022, 38 (6): 13-22.  
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    Developing a whole-process people's democracy is not only an important guarantee for the Communist Party of China (CPC) to fulfill its original aspiration and mission to ensure that the people are the masters of their country, but also one of the essential requirements of Chinese modernization. The development of the whole-process people's democracy by the CPC, guided by the Marxist view of the masses and the theory of people's democracy, follows the scientific laws of socialist democratic political construction, and has distinctive characteristics and significant advantages. The CPC has a complete institutional basis for developing the whole-process people's democracy. The CPC's leadership system and the nation’s system of people's congresses are the political guarantee and basic carrier for developing the whole-process people's democracy, respectively. China's political party system and grass-roots democracy system provide the most effective channels for developing the whole-process people's democracy to gather the broadest political consensus and participation. As our modern, socialist country is built, we must continue to expand the coverage of the whole-process people's democracy. This will include combining the normalized consultative democracy with staged electoral democracy and promoting the matching of democratic consciousness, democratic ability, and democratic style with the construction of a democratic system. One important aspect of this will be the unity of political democracy, economic democracy, and social democracy, such that there is a constant enhancement of the universality, authenticity, and effectiveness of democracy. This is the optimized path for the development of a whole process, people's democracy in the new era.

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    Governance Studies    2022, 38 (5): 25-34.  
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    Governance Studies    2022, 38 (5): 4-11.  
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    Governance Studies    2022, 38 (5): 73-82.  
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    The Bar Block Relationship: A Core Concept of China's Intergovernmental Relations
    Xu Dongtao
    Governance Studies    2024, 40 (3): 34-44.  
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    The bar block structure is the basic component of the Chinese government’s organizational system. The bar block relationship is a visual, conceptual, and theoretical expression of China's intergovernmental relations. It has inspired a surge in practical and theoretical research interest among China’s public management professionals. The evolution and development of the bar block relationship resonates with the construction and reform of the national system. Modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity will continue along with the concept of bar block relations as an important issue in government reform and public governance. For that reason, the connotations of bar block relations must be defined clearly, the main debates sorted out systematically, and the understanding of the regularity of bar block relations deepened. China’s independent knowledge system of public management requires interpreting the Chinese bar block relationship. Ideally, this analysis should not only be based on the history and reality of China's institutional structure and government reform practices. As such, it remains a universal theoretical concern for public management research. The bar block relationship may become more important in the practice and research of public management in China, contributing to the development of general theories of public management.

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    Governance Studies    2022, 38 (5): 12-24.  
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    The Formation, Characteristics, and Practicalities of Urban Community Governance——A Qualitative Comparative Study of QCA Based on 56 cases
    Zhou Jinping, Zhou Pei
    Governance Studies    2022, 38 (6): 93-104.  
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    As the carrier of daily life and the basic governance unit, the urban community has important value. Building community governance is an important theoretical and practical issue that requires urgent study. This paper clarifys the basic connotations of community governance by examining it through the “Ties-Relations-Norms” analytical framework and the QCA qualitative comparative analysis of 56 urban community governance cases. We found that under the “party and government thrust” and “system guarantee” some communities have formed endogenous governance communities. They are characterized by a “co governance platform” and “community self-organization”. Characteristics of an incubating community governance community are its “interest guidance” and “professional support”. A community governance community under stress is characterized by its “Scene urgency” under specific scenarios. At present, it is necessary to strengthen the endogeneity of community governance dynamics, structural embeddedness and institutional effectiveness. At the same time, differentiated strategies should be adopted depending on the community and its governance circumstances. The goal is to gradually form a community of community governance in the context of bond cohesion, relationship connections, and normative guarantees.

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    Special Work Team :New-style Deliberative and Coordinating Agency in China
    Liu Peng, Liu Zhipeng
    Governance Studies    2024, 40 (1): 13-22.  
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    Max Weber's suggestion that bureaucracy originatcs from modern society has some shortcomings, such as institution design deficiency and an inability to respond to social transitions. Therefore,as China’s newtype of deliberative and coordinatig agency, the Special Work’Team can be found at various levels of the Party andgovernments. It promotes inter-departmental cooperation and responds to exernal uncertainties. The Team attends topolicy implementation promotion and accomplishing governance tasks by targeting individual responsibility and focu-sing government attention. This article defines the Special Work’Team concept,clarifies its main types, and analy-zes the academic discussion around the concept. From the perspective of comparative study, the characteristics andmechanisms of the Special Work Team concept were analyzed through a summary of debates from current research. From the perspective of bureaucracy, this paper provides an analytical framework to investigate the functions andmechanisms of the Special Work Team in optimizing the hierarchical system.Finally, the future of Special WorkTeam research is described.

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    From “Harmony of man and nature” to “Harmony is precious”——Jurisprudential innovation and the practice of governance in ancient China
    He Qinhua, Zhang Shun
    Governance Studies    2022, 38 (6): 31-42.  
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    “Harmony of man and nature” is an outstanding achievement of ancient Chinese epistemology. Transforming it from a philosophical proposition into “Harmony is precious” in the political and legal practice of governing the country, and planning and arranging it in terms of legal concepts and systems, reflects the political wisdom and practical experience of the wise ministers and monarchs in ancient Chinese society. Beginning with a discussion of the relationship between “Harmony of man and nature” and “Harmony is precious”, this paper investigates the origins, connotations, evolution, and practice of the concept of harmony between man and nature. This includes the concept’s institutional embodiment in the Chinese legal system. Several traditional Chinese legal expressions value harmony, such as the preference for limiting, ceesing, and even barring litigation, the fusion of etiquette and law, and other ancient judicial practices. This paper posits that national concepts such as “Harmony of man and nature” and “Harmony is precious” still exert significant influence over the process of building a country under the rule of law in China.

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    Digital Technologies promote equalization of public services between urban and rural areas: mechanism and practical logic
    Shi Xinjie, Cui Liu, Fu Changluan
    Governance Studies    2023, 39 (2): 109-123.  
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    Equalization of public services between urban and rural areas is one of the important pathways to realize rural revitalization and common prosperity. At present, the equalization of public services in China faces many challenges, including big differences in the supply of public services between urban and rural areas, insufficient endogenous supply of rural public services, and low efficiency of public service provision. As an emerging technology, digital technologies provide a new way to solve urban and rural public service equalization issues. After defining the relevant concepts and interpreting several theories, this paper constructs a theoretical framework about how digital technologies promote the equalization of public services between urban and rural areas. According to this framework, we analyze the cases of practice related to the digital empowerment of urban and rural public services equalization in Zhejiang province. We propose three optimization routes: first, reinforcing the top-level design and breaking the barrier of the development of digital technologies; second, using local features to drive the endogenous supply of public services through industry digitization; and facilitating factor mobility and enhancing the universality and inclusiveness of public services with digital technology.

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    Governance Studies    2022, 38 (5): 102-112.  
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    Policy Spillover Effect: Definition, Classification and Mechanism Exploration
    Yang Kaifeng, Wang Lulu
    Governance Studies    2023, 39 (3): 29-50.  
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    Facing complicated domestic and international environments and the requirements of implementing systematic, integrated, and coordinated reforms, it is of great theoretical and practical significance to study policy spillover effects. However, the existing studies mainly focus on single or certain policy areas. Scholars seldom explore the general law and logic of policy spillovers. This study examines the varied phenomenon of policy spillovers, clarifies the definition, classification, core mechanisms, and the influencing factors of policy spillover effect. Future discussions should examine how to predict, monitor, and evaluate the policy spillover effect in a better way, and how to improve this process by improving methods, procedures and technologies, so as to deal with the possible negative policy spillovers.

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    Governance Studies    2022, 38 (5): 59-72.  
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    The Political Logic and Basic Management of the Systemic Improvement of Party Governance
    Liu Honglin
    Governance Studies    2022, 38 (6): 4-12.  
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    Strictly Party governance is the fundamental requirement of Marxist political parties and the way to self-strengthen the Communist Party of China in its century-long development. In the new era, the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party is not only meant to solve the general and specific problems faced by the Party's construction, but also to effectively solve the unique problems besetting its long-term governance. This is also meant to aid the Party remove itself from its historical cycles. To improve the Party’s system of strict governance, reform must be built into the Party's organizational system and structure. This must be done in accord with the general requirements of the Party's construction in the new era, and it must be based on and guaranteed by the system of intra Party laws and regulations. We must adhere to scientific concepts and systematic thinking. We must focus on preventing power alienation and instead push to integrate all the elements of strict governance of the Party, making it a structured rather than flat organic system. Fundamentally, the system of strict governance of the Party in an all-round way is a set of institutional mechanisms consisting of dynamism, responsibility, management, supervision, accountability, rewards, punishments, etc. The key is to further realize the organic unity and supporting operation of the systems related to responsibility, supervision, and accountability within the Party.

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    From Economic Development to Social Governance: An Analysis of Social Stability in China through a Demand-Response Framework
    Yan Jirong
    Governance Studies    2023, 39 (2): 4-19.  
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    It is commonly believed that economic development inevitably leads to social instability during modernization. However, China's experience demonstrates that sustained economic development and long-term social stability can complement and strengthen one another. This article examines the long-term evidence of China's economic development since the reform and opening-up, using the lens of “social governance” advocated by the Chinese government to explore how long-term social stability can be achieved in China. The article argues that the Chinese government's continuous promotion of social administration innovation and social governance reform has significantly contributed to maintaining social stability. These measures have not only resolved social conflicts and reduced social instability, but also pressured the government to reform and improve its responsiveness. China's experience suggests that an analysis of social stability based on the demand-response framework holds explanatory power.

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    Effects of Social Norm Nudges on Household Waste Separation: A Field Experiment
    Ling Maoliang, Xu Lin
    Governance Studies    2023, 39 (1): 108-124.  
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    Chinese governments are vigorously promoting household waste separation, but rely mainly on awareness campaigns and economic incentives. Relatively few studies have examined the effects of nudge strategies on household waste separation. Using data from a large-scale field experiment in Q City of Zhejiang Province, China, this study evaluates the effects of social norm nudges on residents’ waste sorting behavior. Such strategies are typically designed to compare an individual’s behavioral level with that of other social members (e.g., neighbors) and reveal the social approval of the target behavior. The results show that social norm strategies increased household participation in waste sorting, with greater influence among people with weak pro-environmental preferences or social capital. They also produced long-lasting effects after they were discontinued. Further evidence suggests that social norm nudges were more cost-effective compared with traditional policy strategies. These findings demonstrate the high efficiency of social norm strategies and contribute to a nuanced understanding of the mechanisms underlying nudge policies.

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    Adaptive Governance Research: Status and Future Prospects
    Rong Zhi, Tan Xiaofang
    Governance Studies    2024, 40 (3): 111-126.  
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    With the expansion and deepening of human activities on ecosystems, adaptive governance has become an emerging governance mode to deal with the characteristics of multi-stability, non-linear, uncertainty, integrity, and complexity of complex systems. Adaptive governance is based on the theories of ecological resilience and self-organization. Its most prominent features are in its development-oriented concept and dynamic adaptability. It also has many realization paths, including core concepts such as multi-center and multi-level governance system, social network, and social learning. Adaptive governance in China arrived late and has not yet formed a theoretical system. Therefore, it is necessary to establish an adaptive governance system in line with China's politics, economy, and culture, by focusing on the nation’s experience. At the same time, adaptive governance research is also expanding to other fields, so we need to be cautious in the process of learning.

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    The Logic of Digital Technology Driving the Territorial Operation of Bureaucratic Organizations:A Case Study of the “Four Platforms of Grassroots Governance” in Zhejiang Province
    Tang Jinghua
    Governance Studies    2023, 39 (1): 40-52.  
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    Digital technology drives the operations of bureaucratic organizations. But how? Based on the case of Zhejiang Province’s “Four Platforms of Grassroots Governance” , this paper uses “territorial operation” to explore the tendency of digital government’s operational logic to allow technology to drive bureaucratic organizations to construct decision-making and action strategies according to modular or systematic thinking, which helps strengthen government’s overall response to real problems. This transformation manifests by changing the action mode from segmentation to integration, changing the organizational relationship from linear connections to an interactive network, changing the value pursuit from departmental performance to overall efficiency, etc. “Territorial operations” transcends the departmentalized operations of traditional bureaucratic organizations, which helps to enhance the government's response to complex social problems. Such modifications are not easily achieved. They face the constraints of bureaucratic inertia, the application of digital technology, and the tension between technology simplicity and reality complexity. The territorial operational logic expands the research perspective of digital government governance as well as provides a new explanatory framework for understanding the transformation of bureaucratic organizations driven by digital technology.

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    Governance Studies    2022, 38 (5): 93-101.  
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    Hopes and Fears for Urban Digital Governance
    Zheng Lei, Zhang Hong, Wang Xiang
    Governance Studies    2022, 38 (6): 53-62.  
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    What kind of urban digital governance are scholars hoping for? What do scholars fear it might become? Through focus groups and literature review, this paper collects and analyzes scholars' hopes and fears for urban digital governance. They hope that urban digital governance could be a symphony of government, market and society rather than a solo of government itself, benefit vulnerable groups, be developed upon people's actual needs, keep a balance between technology and human beings, enhance integrity and synergy, be sustainable, agile, adaptive, and transparent. Scholars fear that urban digital governance could produce few real impacts, collect data excessively at the sacrifice of people’s privacy, deprive people of the right to make their own choices, and strengthen an outdated model and institution of governance. These hopes and fears reflect academia’s thoughts on the relationship between technology, institutions, and people as well as its concerns about the effects and impact of urban digital governance.

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    Governance Studies    2022, 38 (5): 45-58.  
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    Can the Metaverse Promote Public Participation in Social Governance? A Five-level Scaffold Analysis
    Pan Haozhi, Lyu Shoujun, Chen Jie
    Governance Studies    2022, 38 (6): 81-92.  
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    “Technological empowerment” in the digital transformation of social governance aims to promote public participation and collaboration in decision-making through emerging technologies. But can it really increase the public’s power? For example, the Metaverse provides the channel and media for communication between the public and government. But the new technology can also be exploited by techno-capitalists to pursue a corporate and technocratic society. This paper examines these questions through a five-level scaffold conceptualization to enrich the discourse of the “technological empowerment” of the Metaverse. The conceptualization is used to distinguish the types and extent of technology empowerment for different stakeholders in social governance within the Metaverse. The five different levels in the scaffold, from low to high, include “corporate technocrat”,“tokenism interaction”, “public participation”, “co-creation and collaboration”, and “delegated power”. In every level of the five-level scaffold, keyword search is used to identify and explain the corresponding roles and cases of the public in social governance. The results show that “co-creation and collaboration” is a promising approach that can be scaled up under current social governance conditions and is a feasible direction for digital transformation. Application of the Metaverse in technological empowerment can be well-guided by “co-creation and collaboration”. At the same time, the five-level scaffold conceptualization also warns of the risks of technolo-capitalists’ pushing a neoliberal agenda by applying Metaverse technology to evade regulation.

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    Mass Organizations in Primary-level Governance: Embedded Bridging of Social Organizing
    Chu Songyan
    Governance Studies    2023, 39 (2): 20-32.  
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    Organizing and motivating the people to follow the Partyis important for mass organization reform. Mass organizations have become prominent in primary-level governance over the more than seven years’ reform. This was accomplished by activating local public spaces with social services, weaving self-governing mass organizations and social organizations, and offering sharing and thinking nodes for local people. Mass organizations are comfortably path-dependent, lack systematic strategic planning, not professionalized, etc., but they still organize effectively because they aretightly embedded in the grass-root society and reinforce social capital. They also explore the equilibrium between the political and the social by enabling the transformation of society and thereby reinforce the resilience of state governance and inject activity into a stable society.

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    The Pressurized System: A Concept for Depicting and Explaining the Operational Mechanisms of Chinese Governance
    Yang Xuedong, Hu Tianyu
    Governance Studies    2024, 40 (2): 35-43.  
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    The original concept of a “pressurized system” was extracted by indigenous scholars for depicting and explaining the function of Chinese governance. As noted and widely cited by scholars of Chinese politics and governance, its explanatory power stems from its holistic understanding and its vivid depiction of the system’s operations. Rather than a mere metaphorical concept invented by scholars, the concept comes from the practical discourse of local officials in Henan. This article explains its historical origin, evolutionary process, and specific operation. The pressurized system is an institutional choice and part of China's catching-up modernization process. The concept’s nearest comparators are traditional China’s “Bixian system,” modernization’s “mobilization system,” and East Asia’s “developmental state.” Other original concepts that explain contemporary governance in China also share some of its traits. The process of its formation shows that living academic concepts should be documented by collecting practical facts, activating theoretical dialogue, and transforming practical discourse, particularly in studying politics and governance. China's rich governance experiences and innovations provide fertile soil and sustained impetus for producing more original concepts.

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    Global Ecological Governance from the Perspective of a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind
    Li Baogeng, Geng Kexin
    Governance Studies    2023, 39 (1): 28-39.  
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    The deterioration of the environment poses a serious threat to the survival and development of human beings. Global ecological governance also faces practical difficulties such as a lack of fair value appeals, conflicts of interest between governance subjects, and “deficits” of responsibility in governance. From this perspective, global ecological governance imagined as a community with a shared future for mankind breaks through the limitations of regional space and sovereign states. It calls on all countries in the world to adhere to the concept of green development as a process of governance that aids sustainable development. This includes adhering to the principles of consultation, co-construction, common but differentiated responsibilities, sharing, practicing true multilateralism, and combining historical responsibilities and national realities. These basic concepts seek to ensure a harmonious coexistence between man and nature that can only come from jointly building a clean and beautiful earth home. By guiding global ecological governance with the concept of community that shares a future for all mankind, we can reshape global ecological values and create ecological consensus. The work required to achieve these goals includes reconstructing the global concept of ecological interests to realize benefit sharing. We must bring back the concept of ecological responsibility and demonstrated responsibility, so that we might join hands with all countries to build a beautiful home on earth. Our country can contribute Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to solve the dilemma of global ecological governance.

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    How does Policy Pilots Turn into Suspension: Based on Case Study of the Reform of Property Tax Pilots
    Yang Hongshan, Zhang Jianpei
    Governance Studies    2023, 39 (1): 68-80.  
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    China's reform has always been accompanied by large-scale pilot policies. For those pilot programs that had no diffusion effect, local governments would not stop them. As a result, these pilot programs go around in circles, forming a unique phenomenon of pilot suspension. This study proposes an explanatory framework that pilot suspension is the product of the combined effects of local reformers' demands for political promotion, the self-weakening effect of pilot feedback, the restraining effect of inter-governmental learning, and the legitimacy of pilot decisions. Pilot suspension consumes administrative resources, and valuable knowledge production is stagnant, which does not help to improve perceptions of uncertainty. To improve the effectiveness of pilot-driven knowledge production, we should not only provide balanced incentive arrangements to stimulate innovation by local governments, but also improve pilot trial designs and evaluation modes, put forward framework goals, set time-limit requirements, and establish reporting, peer review, and reputation incentive systems.

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    The Notion of Contribution Reconsidered: One of the Ethical Preconditions for Common Prosperity
    Tan Ankui
    Governance Studies    2022, 38 (6): 43-52.  
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    Productive contribution measured in terms of market value has been considered as the decisive criterion for resource distribution due to the transition from status to contract. But this hinders us intellectually from imaging social fairness and the ideal of common prosperity. The evaluation of productive contributions by referencing market value is technically unreliable, and it is of little ethical significance. A prior social imaginary as a reference frame in which economy and market are embedded is necessary for both rational evaluation of contributions and the pursuit of egalitarian distribution. In this social imaginary beyond the market model, a common asset irreducible to individual productive contributions constitutes the material and ethical foundation of common prosperity, and it widens the spectrum of values within which we think about the notion of contribution. People can contribute in non-productive forms during the diachronic social reproduction, and thus earn social recognition and dignity.

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    Grid Management: The Infrastructure of China’s Grassroots Governance
    ZhANG Jie, WANG Shizong
    Governance Studies    2024, 40 (5): 42-52.  
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    Grid management is a policy tool originating from local practices. After years of diffusion and innovation, it has become the infrastructure of China’s grassroots governance. Its essence lies in leveraging information technology to divide grassroots public affairs into grid patterns. Grid management can break down departmental barriers, achieve vertical integration, and shift the focus of governance downward. Through assessment and accountability, it can also implement responsibilities with a unique operational mechanism to better achieve social management and public service goals. The emergence of grid management has not only significantly influenced the basic forms of public affairs governance such as bureaucracy and social networks, but it has also injected new elements into those Chinese-style governance methods. Thus, grid management directly affects the modernization of China’s state governance. Although grid management is essentially a product of the positive transformation of the hierarchical system, it does produce some negatives, such as unreasonable responsibilities and accountability, the squeezing-out of the rights of some groups, and compressing social autonomy. However, with further innovation and development, grid management could significantly aid the process of modernizing state governance in China.

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    How Does Multi-Agent Collaborative Governance Promote the Co-production of Public Services?——An Institutional Analysis Based on the “Village FA” in R County
    Zhang Youlang, Ran Yuhao
    Governance Studies    2024, 40 (2): 57-72.  
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    The co-production of public services is crucial to building a people-centered social governance community. This study proposes a framework of multi-agent collaborative governance (MCG) in co-production and takes the “Village FA” in R County as a case study to explore the impact of MCG on co-production. The research reveals that “Village FA” represents a co-production model involving the participation of society, government, and market actors, which stems from the public's self-organizing behavior. MCG enhances the effectiveness of co-production through mechanisms of social incubation, market facilitation, agenda absorption, and administrative empowerment. Co-production under MCG is the result of interactions among multiple levels of action stages with distinct phase characteristics, thus the application of these mechanisms necessitates consideration of their adaptability. This study contributes by integrating co-production theory with collaborative governance theory, thereby expanding the theoretical framework of co-production. Furthermore, it provides an empirical illustration of the mechanisms and institutionalization process of co-production in Chinese context.

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    A New Form of Chinese State Governance
    Zhang Wenxian
    Governance Studies    2023, 39 (1): 4-27.  
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    Achieving scientific and effective national governance in a developing socialist country is a difficult goal left to the CPC by history, the times, and the people. After a hundred years of struggle and exploration, the CPC has led the Chinese people to open a new road to the modernization of Chinese-style national governance, created a new form of Chinese style national governance, and scientifically answered the questions of history, the people, and the world about the governance of China. The new path and new form of the modernization of Chinese style national governance can be summarized as “ten insistences”. They are: adhering to the overall leadership and long-term governance of the CPC, adhering to the people's democracy throughout the process, adhering to the people's congress system, adhering to the multi-party cooperation and political consultation system led by the CPC, adhering to the organic unity of the leadership of the Party, the people's ownership of the country, and the rule of law, and adhering to the unitary national system with Chinese characteristics. We must continue to empower national governance with digitalization, promote domestic and international governance in a coordinated manner, comprehensively and strictly govern the Party and follow the rules, and promote the modernization of national governance on the track of the rule of law.

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    Upholding Fundamental Principles and Breaking New Ground in Centralized Education within the Party in the New Era
    Dai Yuqi, Yu Xiaochun
    Governance Studies    2023, 39 (4): 4-16.  
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    It is a unique form of ideological and political education for the CPC to systematically carry out centralized education within the Party. Since the 18th National Congress and the tasks required by the times, the CPC has conducted six rounds of centralized education within the Party. The centralized education within the Party in the new era pays attention to the comprehensiveness of the object range and the pertinence of the requirements, the extensiveness of the research and the level of supervision, the systematization of the learning materials and the epochal media publicity, the consistency of education and the orientation of the problems. In addition, it has become a series of basic experiences, such as strengthening theoretical armament, tempering political character, guiding practice by theory, and strengthening institutional construction. Going forward, centralized education within the Party should adhere to integrity and innovation, with cadres facing new situations, new tasks, and new challenges. Centralized education should also anchor the theme of the development, rely on technological innovation and development, in response to changes in educational objects, and solve the unique problems of the Party with its unique advantages.

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    The Campaign-Style Governance: A Mobilization Mechanism with Chinese Characteristics
    Xiang Miao
    Governance Studies    2024, 40 (3): 24-33.  
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    Campaign-style governance is rooted in traditional Chinese politics. It has also become the keyword of Chinese public administration with its widespread presence in contemporary Chinese national and local governance. There is a relationship between campaign-style governance mechanisms and hierarchical governance, which includes substitution, complementarity, and synergy. This association is an important experience in the revolution, construction, and development of contemporary China, reflecting the institutional advantages and governance effectiveness of Chinese state governance. However, campaign-style governance mechanisms also face the dilemma of effectiveness and the paradox of legitimacy caused by the layering of targets and the distortion of goals. A future pathway will embrace an institutionalized governance that is standardized, observe the rule of law, and focus on long-term effectiveness. Accordingly, campaign-style governance mechanisms will restrict public goals as well as provide technical, normative, and procedural constraints. Although campaign-style governance has distinctive Chinese characteristics, it is deeply related to bureaucratic governance, mobilization politics, and holistic governance. It has a wide range of applicability in both developing countries and developed countries. As both a theoretical concept and a governance mechanism, it is both country specific and universal regarding global public governance.

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    Governance Studies    2022, 38 (5): 83-92.  
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    The Fourth Industrial Revolution and “Digital Space” Government
    Mi Jianing, Peng Kangjun, Sun Yuan
    Governance Studies    2023, 39 (1): 53-67.  
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    As the Fourth Industrial Revolution evolves, emerging technologies such as big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence have cleared the way for a “digital space” outside physical space and human society. This is not only a phenomenon of technological revolution, but also a profound social change, which has a subversive impact on the form of government and governance mode. Through the inherent logical analysis of the evolution and development of government form and governance mode, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has become an important opportunity to reconstruct the theories and methods of government governance in the new era. During this period, China became the “social experimental field” of the Fourth Industrial Revolution by virtue of its unparalleled advantages, and it continued to shape the government form and governance mode of the “digital space”. As a new form of national governance, “digital space” government needs to constantly and timely adjust its value orientation, the orientation of the relationship between the government and social subjects as well as the mode of government existence and service supply. The ultimate goal should be to respond productively to the modernization of the nation’s governance system and its governance abilities as the times change.

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    Institutional Discourse and the Discourse System: A Study from the Institutional Perspective of the Discourse Innovation of the Communist Party of China in the New Era
    Fan Shibo, Qi Weiping
    Governance Studies    2022, 38 (6): 72-80.  
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    Since its 18th National Congress, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has not only emphasized the Chinese system, but also the rule of China. The relationship between institutions and governance rests on intrinsic unity. Only by giving full play to institutional advantages can governance efficiency be improved. Around the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, the CPC has formed a discourse system to meet the style of the times. In the system noumenon, the CPC emphasizes that the socialist system with Chinese characteristics is suitable for China's national conditions. On the system level, the CPC adheres to the principle of classification and stratification, thereby clarifying the system’s connotations. The system of superiorityemphasizes concentration of strength to accomplish major tasks and to promote government efficiency. The system’s most essential characteristic is the leadership of the CPC. Institutional discourse conveys the value of the governance of the CPC. To form the joint force of discourse, the CPC has adopted the mechanisms of discourse absorption, discourse amalgamation, discourse stratification, and discourse weakening. It is helpful for building a modern, socialist country to build consensus and provide a strong political guarantee of a constantly developing institutional discourse.

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    On the Judicial Evidence Reasoning of Artificial Lntelligence
    Zhuo Xiang, Cui Shiqun
    Governance Studies    2023, 39 (1): 136-156.  
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    At present, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is involved in judicial evidence reasoning and has aroused widespread concern. AI is still “top-down” in that its logical reasoning is good, but it cannot completely simulate human cognitive thinking. It operates in an auxiliary position in judicial evidence reasoning where its advantages include massive data screening and positioning, efficient and consistent operation of algorithms, but its include evidence information extraction, evidence language transformation, legal thinking simulation, judicial experience learning, etc. As an auxiliary to the judicial process, AI helps with sorting evidence materials, provides early warnings for evidence information loss, and creates both pre-guidance and post-correction for evidentiary reasoning. At the same time, AI should be principled so that the judiciary can provide intelligent trials; the AI algorithms should be equally available and public; and, there are limited restrictions on machine-aided judicial evidence reasoning. Such an AI auxiliary system must also let AI participate in the evidence reasoning of different types of cases and different stages of litigation in a reasonable manner such that each matter has the proper AI tools. Through the complementary advantages of artificial intelligence and human judges, the fairness and efficiency dividends of judicial work will open a new chapter in judicial trials in the new era.

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    Governance Studies    2022, 38 (5): 35-44.  
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    Service Activates Society——The Operation Mode of Social Construction Driven by the Coordination of Five Social Forces
    Xu Jialiang, Cheng Lijiao
    Governance Studies    2023, 39 (2): 33-45.  
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    For many years, research on social construction was divided between the academic theories of state centrism and social centrism. These theories reveal the research results of social construction and the logic of power production in China’s past. But they cannot provide a new direction for social construction in the new era, which takes party leadership as the core and the people as the center. This is represented by the development path of the four communities in Suzhou’s Taicang City. As this study shows, under the guidance of the community party organization, those communities were introduced to social organizations through the government’s procurement of public service projects in which professional social workers, charitable resources, and other diverse elements, were used to create volunteer teams. The result was achieving the “same goal by different routes”. Put another way, the party and the government introduced service projects to society and thereby realized the goal of multi subject interactions that activated social vitality and internal order. Different from the social construction logic characterized by restrictions and cooperation from the perspective of state-centrism, the service-activated social model emphasizes that the party and the government should always respect the laws of social operations. This can be done comprehensively through methods such as the transfer of public service functions, the cultivation of social organizations, the restriction of the rule of law, and incentivizing values so as to activate social vitality on an orderly basis. In the end, these efforts have led to the formation of a new era of co-construction, co-governance, and sharing. The slogan—Service Activates Society—reveals the operational mode of social construction driven by the coordination of five social forces. It provides a new way of thinking about the intertwined social construction pattern of the party, government, society, and other subjects.

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    Common Prosperity and the Universality of Sinicism modernization—— Study and implementation of the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China
    Governance Studies    2023, 39 (2): 46-66.  
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    The Chinese path to modernization shares characteristics with modernization in all countries, but it also has the characteristics based on its own national conditions. Common prosperity is an important feature and essential requirement of the Chinese path to modernization. This journal presents a series of written discussions on the major issues in this area such as the universality of common prosperity, the Chinese path to modernization, and the provincial first exploration of practice pathways. People-centered modernization leads to common prosperity. The fundamental pathway for human modernization is to improve the allocation of rights and opportunities to achieve the general equality of capabilities. The team of private entrepreneurs in Zhejiang is a valuable resource and bearer of high-quality development and common prosperity in Zhejiang. The high-quality development of the private economy is related to the Chinese path to modernization. Common prosperity and provincial modernization in advance conform to the general law of socialist development and evolving modernization, laying a Chinese path to universal modernization. The innovation discourse of the Chinese path to modernization, which combines particularity with universality, has universal enlightenment for human modernization. The Chinese path to modernization is a new type and it is constantly enriched. The coupling of modernization and common prosperity creates universality in human modernization. The academic community will discuss these issues further.

    SinicismChina’s modernization has characteristics in common with the modernizations of other countries, but it has unique characteristics based on its own national conditions. Common prosperity is an important feature and essential requirement of Chinese modernization. This journal will publish aa series of discussions on the major issues on this topic such as the universality of common prosperity through, Chinese modernization and the practice pathway of province-led exploration. People-centered modernization leads to common prosperity. Human modernization must improve the allocation of rights and opportunities to achieve the general equality of capabilities. The group of non-state sector entrepreneurs in Zhejiang is a valuable resource and bearer of high-quality development and common prosperity in Zhejiang. The high-quality development of the non-state economy is related to the Chinese path of modernization. Common prosperity and provincial modernization both conform to the general law of socialist development and evolving modernization. This gives Chinese modernization a universalist perspective. The innovation discourse around Chinese modernization, which combines particularity with universality, has universal lessons for human modernization. Chinese modernization should be regarded as a new type, which isconstantly enriched. The coupling of modernization and common prosperity presents a universal form of human modernization. The academic community will engage with this topic as further issues reveal themselves.

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