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Neither Centre nor Local: Community-Driven Experimentalist Governance in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 August 2017

Kyoung Shin
Kyoung Shin*
Affiliation:
National Tsing Hua University. Email: shin@mx.nthu.edu.tw.
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Abstract

Based on findings from three years of site-intensive fieldwork at the local level, this article presents evidence to suggest that binary governance frameworks like centre–local relations are insufficient to understand certain local regulatory outcomes in contemporary China. I seek to specify a distinct type of local governance that has been emerging in recent years, which blurs existing binary concepts. It can be distinguished along two main dimensions: ostensible structure and modalities of governance. Two cases are analysed to illustrate the ways in which it impacts local regulatory outcomes. The analyses point to the need for expanding our portfolio of approaches to understanding local governance in contemporary China.

摘要

根据在中国地方层面进行的深度民族志田野调查, 本文表明二元的治理框架, 譬如中央-地方关系, 不足以解释在当代中国地方出现的某些规制现象及结果。笔者试图勾勒近年来凸显的一种不同的地方治理类型, 这种类型使得现有的二元治理概念愈来愈模糊。其独特性主要表现在两个层面: 治理的表面结构和实行内容。本文分析了两个具体的案例以展示这种治理类型如何影响地方能源与环境治理的结果。本项研究认为, 为了更清楚地了解当代中国的地方治理, 我们需要扩充研究进路以及理论框架。

Keywords

local governancecommunity-driven experimentalist governanceenvironmentenergycentre–local relations地方治理圈子主导的试验性治理环境能源中央-地方关系
Type
Special Section on Central–Local Relations and Environmental Governance in China
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 231 , September 2017 , pp. 607 - 633
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Copyright
Copyright © SOAS University of London 2017 

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