Administrative Reform In China Research Articles

CHINESE EXPERIENCE OF ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM

Administrative reforms are an important part of political reforms, an important part of reforms and development of China. Administrative reforms include the evolution of administrative power structures, regulation of administrative organization, administrative management systems, innovation of administrative tools, etc. 40 years after that how China's attempts at reform began, it seems that administrative reforms have made great progress. Be that as it may, this is confirmed by studying great course and valuable experience of administrative reforms in China. In addition, studying and exploration of key issues aimed at continuously advancing reforms can be of great importance for a deep understanding of the great achievements of reform and discovery, continuous deepening of reforms of administrative systems and coordinated promotion of the “Four Comprehensive Steps” strategy layout.

The effect of environmental centralisation on productivity: Evidence from an administrative reform in China

AbstractThis paper adopts a novel institutional perspective—environmental centralisation—to examine its impact on firm productivity in developing countries. In 2008, China's State Environmental Protection Administration was upgraded to the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP). This administrative reform strengthened the central government's ability to protect the environment, enabling it to address more environmental affairs and concentrate on environmental rights. Based on the quasi‐natural experiment of the establishment of the MEP, this study takes a new perspective on the impact of environmental centralisation on productivity. The difference‐in‐difference‐in‐difference approach is used for the first time to estimate the impact of environmental centralisation on productivity. We find that environmental centralisation caused by the establishment of the MEP significantly increased the productivity of heavily polluting companies, and a series of robustness tests confirm that the results are credible. We identify three possible mechanisms, namely, facilitating innovation, curbing rent‐seeking behaviour and inhibiting over‐investments. The policy implication of this study is that the effectiveness of environmental policy depends not only on the policy itself but also on the allocation of environmental rights among different levels of government.

Can environmental centralization help reduce pollution? Evidence from an administrative reform in China

Amid the longstanding dispute over the centralization and decentralization of environmental regimes, most discussions have focused on developed countries. Few studies have tested the mechanisms underlying centralization and decentralization. The establishment of the Ministry of Environmental Protection in China in 2008 has led to various changes in the degree of environmental centralization. Based on this reform, we use standard and continuous difference-in-difference designs to estimate the effect of environmental centralization on pollution in developing countries and to test the underlying mechanisms. We find that the establishment of the Ministry of Environmental Protection has effectively led to reduced pollution in provinces with higher degrees of environmental decentralization. Furthermore, centralization has restricted local governments' free riding and reduced emissions at the borders. It has also strengthened local governments’ incentives for environmental governance. The implication is that environmental centralization is conducive to reducing the free-riding behavior and race-to-the-bottom problems of developing economies, thus contributing to environmental well-being.

Political Elite Coalition and Local Administrative Reform in China—a case study of Shunde under Wang Yang

This article examines the importance of political elite coalitions at local levels to create institutional reform in contemporary China. By exploring Shunde’s administrative reforms under Wang Yang, Guangdong’s provincial Party secretary from 2008 to 2012, this article identifies a provincial–grassroots coalition as the essential impetus to local reforms. It argues that formation of political elite coalitions, built upon mutual trust through reciprocal interactions, is crucial for the success of reform. Within the coalition, the strong reformist provincial leader provides his leadership by becoming intensively involved in the reform process, while active grassroots cadres serve as designers and executors of reform plans. By means of a comparison between the scenarios of active grassroots cadres without Wang and Wang with less enthusiastic grassroots cadres, the article concludes that this political elite coalition is by nature fragile; if either side is not present, the coalition will collapse, resulting in either the failure of reform or a deviation of existing reforms to a less fruitful pattern.

Political Mobility and Dynamic Diffusion of Innovation: The Spread of Municipal Pro-Business Administrative Reform in China

Political Mobility and Dynamic Diffusion of Innovation: The Spread of Municipal Pro-Business Administrative Reform in China

Administrative Reforms in China: An Analysis of the Government Affairs Service Center of Pu’er City

Journal of Anthropology and Archaeology is a peer-reviewed international journal, which publishes original papers promoting theoretical, methodological and empirical developments in the discipline of socio-cultural anthropology.

Service-Oriented Government Building Research Based on the Background of the “New SEZ”

To build a service-oriented government is the general direction of the administrative reform in China. Its not only the remodeling of the relationship between government and the market and corporate. But also its a thorough transformation of government management mode. Especially in the new SEZ booming context, the construction of service-oriented government has increasingly become a central element of the comprehensive reform of the SEZ. By define the meaning of service-oriented and analysis the necessity and possibility of building a service-oriented government in the context of SEZ, and Combined with the SEZ development practice, it come up with a specific implementation path of Building service-oriented government in the context of the new SEZ from foster people-oriented concept, improve the legal system, the transformation of government functions, improve the overall quality of government officials. This article aims to provide a reference for the construction of the service-oriented government.

Imitating the West? Evidence on Administrative Reform from the Upper Echelons of Chinese Provincial Government

This article explores the attitudes of officials in the upper echelons in Chinese provincial and local government toward the origins of administrative reform. The authors examine the somewhat dichotomous argument that reform imitates the West or is indigenous and contend that both influences are present. Data drawn from a survey of party cadres and government officials show that cultural factors (time in government, overall knowledge of administrative reforms, together with familiarity with the move from a planned system of government to a market economy) and structural variables (upper echelon and familiarity with business management techniques) are correlated with learning from the West. Cadres and officials who spend more time managing outward and those who are familiar with performance assessment do not learn from the West. The theoretical and research implications of these findings—that learning from the West is an important influence on the adoption of administrative reforms in China—are discussed.

One country, two experiences: administrative reforms in China and Hong Kong

Neither Hong Kong nor mainland China is a democracy, yet both have been active administrative reformers, having achieved significant changes but continuing to operate within systematic and institutional constraints, shaped by path-dependence. Within three decades, China has been transformed from a centrally planned economy into a thriving market economy in the name of ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’ – a form of market authoritarianism. Hong Kong, meanwhile, had prospered as part of the ‘East Asia miracle’, and been an enthusiast of public sector reform in the ‘new public management’ fashion. Their path and logic of reform have never been entirely straightforward, displaying compromises and uneasy hybrids (more so in mainland China). Though confronted with rising political challenges to governance, both are arguably still ‘success’ types in their own right. The two reform trajectories have run in arguably totally different political contexts, but there is one similarity – administrative reforms were implemented in an authoritarian setting and had embraced a strong agenda of substituting political reforms. Points for practitioners This article uses the case of China and Hong Kong to illustrate administrative modernization under authoritarianism. Both have been active administrative reformers over the past three decades despite not being a democracy. Though confronted with rising political challenges to governance, both are arguably still ‘success’ types in their own right. Hong Kong, along with Singapore, is rated as high achiever by the World Bank’s global governance indicators. Despite political constraints and ideological hurdles, the scale of China’s transformation of the party-state is anything but gigantic. It was held up as exemplary of an alternative growth model, dubbed by some as the ‘Beijing Consensus’, as a counterweight to the neoliberal ‘Washington Consensus’. Their experience underscores the dynamics of governance reform under institutional and political limitations.

Budgeting China: Macro-Policies and Micro-Practices in Public Sector Changes

Transformations taking place in China are of crucial importance in the development of the world economy. The international community is turning its attention to China’s move towards a market economy and assessing the likely impact on the years ahead. This paper aims to plot the evolution of administrative reforms in China with particular reference to the state (and therefore public sector), because the modernization of the state is an issue that will persist into the future, and because the state itself has been driving the country’s transformation towards a market economy in a deliberate way. Within this framework, the paper revisits the debate on administrative reforms at different levels; i.e., fiscal, budgeting, government organizations, and Public Sector Units (PSUs). In addition to reconstructing the evolution of norms and procedures as part of deliberate strategies by the centre, the paper also investigates how actual practices at the micro level have followed this process of reform, with reference to the administration of cultural heritage at the municipal level, based on a field research project. We find that a lack of relation with the role played by actual accounting transformation seems to characterize the current debate on policies. Serious discrepancies can be found between expectations and actual changes, and between macro and micro policies, and micro practices.

Budgeting China. Macro‐policies and micro‐practices in public sector changes

Purpose – Transformations taking place in China are of crucial importance in the development of the world economy. The international community is turning its attention to China's move towards a market economy and assessing the likely impact on the years ahead. This paper aims to plot the evolution of administrative reforms in China with particular reference to the state (and therefore public sector), because the modernization of the state is an issue that will persist into the future, and because the state itself was driving the country's transformation towards a market economy in a deliberate way.Design/methodology/approach – The paper revisits the debate on administrative reforms at different levels, i.e. fiscal, budgeting, government organizations, and public sector units (PSUs). In addition to reconstructing the evolution of norms and procedures as part of deliberate strategies by the center, the paper also investigates how actual practices at the micro level have followed this process of reform, with...

Crossing the River by Touching Stones: A Comparative Study of Administrative Reforms in China and the United States

To compare administrative reform in one of the world’s most ancient civilizations and in one of the world’s “youngest countries” produces some surprises. Administrative reforms in both countries are similar, but occur at different periods of history. Mengzhong Zhang of the University of Maryland at College Park discovers that some of China’s recent reform efforts resemble historic efforts in the United States up to half a century ago. Other components of administrative reform in China reflect contemporary practices in the United States. This phenomenon reflects convergence, rather than divergence.

Administrative reform in China's central government — how much `learning from the West'?

The prevailing interpretation in the scholarly literature is that public sector reform in China during the period of marketization has been driven primarily by internal, contextual factors rather than being under the sway of particular global reform models or theories such as New Public Management. The aim of this article is to move beyond arguing from inference that `Chinese characteristics' continue to be dominant and to inquire into the manner and extent of external influences on central government reform actors. We assume a `multi-causal' model in which both internal and external factors are present. From a survey of the literature on the reforms, we conclude that, while there are some `unique' features, most of the themes (and even the results) of modern Chinese reforms are not unique and have parallels in Western countries. Moreover, aside from the similarities in the content and substance of administrative reforms, the patterns and styles of reform in China and in the West in the past 20 years show marked similarities and parallels. Thus, external reform ideas and influences are being diffused through reform processes. Further empirical and theoretical analysis is required to establish the more specific nature of scanning and dissemination, or other forms of diffusion; the kind of learning that is taking place; and the impact that any imported models or templates actually have on reform proposals and outcomes in particular reform episodes.Points for practitioners • Whereas many scholars tend to believe the lip service the Chinese leaders pay to the `uniqueness' of China's public sector reforms and their `Chinese characteristics', their leaders have been very eager to `learn from the West'. • Emulation and learning at a global level are key aspects of contemporary public sector innovation and reform, even between jurisdictions that are seemingly very different from each other. • The development of sophisticated mechanisms for scanning and selective learning are key requirements for a rapidly developing public sector such as China's.

Marketization, globalization and administrative reform in China: a zigzag road to a promising future

The Chinese administrative system has been periodically reformed since the early 1980s. This article mainly focuses on the reforms of the State Council, the central government of China, and then deals with the five main rounds of reform. It gives a full picture of the story of reform with its context and contents, the measures taken, the difficulties encountered and the challenges ahead. It is argued that administrative reform in China has been used to reorient the Communist state to an emerging market-oriented economy and to enhance the capacity of the government to regulate market forces and to respond to the significant impacts made by economic globalization. Given the authoritarian nature of the party-state polity of China, the authors argue that administrative reform in China has also been used as an alternative route to alleviate the crisis of governance resulting from rapid social change; however, its effects are constrained by the implications of politico-administrative apparatus. To build up a modern governing system suitable for a market economy, a proactive approach, including political or constitutional reform, should be put on the agenda.

The International Implications of China's Fledgling Regulatory State: From Product Maker to Rule Maker

The principal analytical lens through which Western decision makers and commentators have viewed China’s rapid rise in the international economy is the country’s impact on global market prices. China is already the world’s fourth largest trading nation and has the world’s biggest labour force, and the prospect of a possible consumer base of over a million people makes it the most attractive emerging market. Because of this economic might, in both production and consumption, China has begun to shape prices for a large array of goods and services. While analysts disagree about the specifics, no-one fundamentally disputes that this ‘China Price’ effect exerts considerable influence over current international economic dynamics. This article’s main thesis is that the ongoing transformation of the Chinese state is empowering the country’s leaders to influence the non-market environment of business as well, and that this route of influence has the potential of being at least as important as changes in relative market prices. A series of domestic institutional reforms have provided Chinese policy makers with the tools to shape the rules and standards that underlie international markets and the terms of competition within them. We show that the particular importance of foreign direct investment (FDI) as a driver of China’s economic development amplifies the effects of ongoing domestic institutional capacity building. Having established itself as a global ‘product maker’, the next round of competition could see China establish itself as a potent ‘rule maker’ in the global economy. Indeed, evidence is mounting that Chinese policy makers are beginning to deploy their expanding regulatory capabilities to set clear market rules at home and leverage the Chinese market to export them internationally. While China’s already impressive domestic market plays a critical role in this strategy, market size alone is insufficient. We argue that China’s ability to influence international market rules depends on policy makers’ ability to employ new regulatory capabilities that are the result of a political transformation initiated more than two decades ago. Through a series of administrative reforms, China has constructed a fledgling regulatory state that gives policy makers new

Administrative Reform and Rule of Law in China

Rule of Law has become popular jargon in Chinese society since its adoption in the Third Amendment to the Chinese Constitution in 1999. After the transition of the Chinese leadership from the Third Generation to the so-called Fourth Generation, a significant new document, issued in April 2004, ushered in a new era of administrative reform in China. China's pledge is to have established a rule-of-law government by 2015. This article discusses new developments and legal aspects of administrative reform and evaluates whether the rule-of-law concept has been fully endorsed in China. Finally, it presents a brief discussion on the relationship between the Chinese Communist Party and the law, which is intrinsic to the success of China's administrative reform.

Globalization and Reunification: Administrative Reforms and the China–Hong Kong Convergence Challenge

When Hong Kong reintegrated with China in 1997, one critical issue was whether the flourishing center of economic activity with an efficient administrative framework would lose its advantages and become just another city of the People's Republic of China. This article examines the process of managing transition as socialist China tries to accommodate capitalist Hong Kong. With strong forces of globalization at play, both units have had to embark on administrative reforms to make their systems compatible with the demands of the new circumstances. An overview of the reforms they have undertaken reveals that convergence is possible despite markedly different points of departure. However, while the forces of globalization press for increased convergence, the forces of institutional arrangements and history present a major challenge. The balance of the push and pull of convergent and divergent forces will determine the direction and outcome of administrative reforms in China and Hong Kong.

Reinventing Government in China

The 1998 administrative reforms in China provide a pregnant context for comparative analysis of the “reinventing government” movement. Described in some detail, the reforms are compared with the recent administrative reform experience in the United States. Significant similarities are illuminated using the prisms of ideology, politics, history, bureaucracy, and economics. Insight emerges on the role of experience, leadership, and technical-political expertise in administrative development. The analysis concludes that the art and science of global public administration can be advanced through increased comparative analysis of non-Western developing systems with the more developed Western administrative states.

The 1998 Administrative Reform in China: Issues, Challenges and Prospects

This article examines China’s 1998 administrative reform in its current as well as its historical context. It reviews critical issues related to China’s reform endeavors and discusses the prospects for the success of the reform. It argues that China is now at critical crossroads where opportunities and challenges coexist. The choices made by the leaders in China as well as the leaders of the world today will significantly shape China’s future.

China's administrative reforms for a market economy

AbstractDuring the 1980s and early 1990s, China's centrally planned economy has been replaced by one that relies largely on market forces. Leaders have carried out a programme of administrative reforms to tailor the state to the market economy. These reforms have included: decentralization, organizational restructuring and civil service reform. A number of factors have undermined the success of the reforms. They include: lack of political support, China's relatively weak administrative capacity, internal bureaucratic opposition and mixed support from the general public. However, further economic development is likely to improve the prospects of administrative reform in China.