Research on the Application and Experience of Policy Tools in China's Grassroots Governance since the Reform and Opening-up --Taking Zhuanglang County of Gansu Province as an example

Abstract

This paper takes 376 policy texts issued by Zhuanglang County government from 1979-2022 as the research object, and uses content analysis to sort out the use of policy tools and the history of changes in the process of grassroots governance in Zhuanglang County after reform and opening up. In terms of the types of approaches, the use of coercive tools, hybrid tools and voluntary tools in grassroots governance is comprehensive, but there is an imbalance in the use of policy tools in stages: overflow of coercive tools and lack of hybrid and voluntary tools; the types of policy tools tend to be concentrated and lack of innovation; and insufficient nesting and synergy among policy tools. In terms of evolutionary logic, the overall shift from confrontational to cooperative instruments follows a gradual contraction of coercive and confrontational elements and a steady expansion of flexible and synergistic elements. Among them, the development of voluntary policy tools is highly valued, and the participation of common subjects in policy networks becomes a new trend in grassroots social governance. In addition, through the analysis of the historical stages of policy tools, with the help of the theory of institutional change and the theory of synergetic governance, this paper summarizes the experience of the use of policy tools: paying attention to the flexibility and diversity of the use of policy tools; Pay attention to the innovation of policy tools and establish dynamic adjustment mechanism; Adhere to the logic of gradualism and the principle of bounded rationality. "History, reality and future are interlinked". The summary of experience is to better look forward to the future. We should adhere to the pertinence, comprehensiveness and synergy of the use of policy tools to achieve the modernization of grass-roots governance.