Local Governance Innovation in China ─ Experimentation, Diffusion, and Defiance

"Despite a centralized formal structure, Chinese politics and policy-making have long been marked by substantial degrees of regional and local variation and experimentation. These trends have, if anything, intensified as China's reform matures. Though often remarked upon, the precise contours of policy formation, diffusion, and implementation have not previously been systematically described, let alone satisfactorily explained. Based on extensive fieldwork, this book explores how policies diffuse across China today, the mechanisms through which local governments actually arrive at specific solutions, and the implications for China's political development and stability in the years ahead. The chapters examine how local-level institutions solve governance challenges, such as rural development, enterprise reform, social service provision, and how to deal with poor levels of transparency. Focusing on diverse policy areas that include education spending, state-owned enterprise reform, and house churches, the contributors all address the same overarching question: how do local policymakers innovate in each issue area to address a governance challenges and how, if at all, do these innovations diffuse into national politics. As a study of local governance in China today, this book will appeal to both students and scholars of Chinese politics, comparative politics, governance and development studies, and also to policy-makers interested in authoritarianism and governance"--

Jessica C. Teets is Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department at Middlebury College, USA.

William Hurst is Associate Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University, USA.