Western practices in Chinese governance: a case study of the implementation of action learning

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article argues that action learning has been incorporated into the Chinese administrative system because of a functional need for Western learning technology. This finding contrasts with those presented in the existing literature, which assert that Western practices have only been partially implemented, if implemented at all, because they were selected to serve certain political objectives. Therefore, this paper presents a different picture of Chinese governance, showing that it is not exclusively driven by political considerations but rather respectfully drawn to Western expertise and open to accommodating foreign ideas in order to update existing administrative knowledge. For practitioners, the findings suggest that, if a Western practice can serve major reform objectives and smoothly function within the constraints of the political ideology of the Chinese Communist Party and if its effectiveness is convincingly demonstrated, the practice can be accepted to improve the functioning of the system, and it can thus have a true impact on Chinese administrative governance.本文认为，由于中国对西方的学习方法的功能需求，行动学习已被纳入中国的行政体系。这一发现与现有文献中提出的结论形成鲜明对比：现有文献认为，出于某些政治目的，西方实践被有选择性地施行。因此，本文提出了一个关于中国政府实施西方实践的不同的论点，表明中国政府在行政管理方面对西方实践的施行，不是完全由政治考虑所驱动，而是由于中国政府出于谦恭的态度被西方的专业知识所吸引，并愿意接受外国的思想，以更新现有的行政知识。研究结果表明，如果西方实践能够服务于重大的改革目标，并在中国共产党的政治意识形态约束下顺利运作，且其所展示出的价值令人信服，则其价值本身就会被中国政府所认同和接受，并且它因此而影响了中国政府的行政管理。