依法治国与改革: 如何并行不悖？——基于《行政许可法》对地方政府审批创新的影响

As a core dimension in the reform and opening up process,the development of the rule of law has posed new challenges to the deepening of reform in China.Traditionally, the incremental approach to reform hinged upon the initiatives of local governments to innovate and experiment within,and despite,national administrative or legal parameters. This paper shows how, via a case study of the Administrative Licensing Reform and the Administrative Licensing Law of the People’s Republic of China,the increased emphasis on ‘reform in strict accordance with the law ’ under the recent call for deepening the rule of law may incur unintended difficulties in the reform process. In particular,we identified the specific ways the Administrative Licensing Law of the People’s Republic of China has in practice increased the risk of local reforms, so that a strict adherence to the law may have discouraged much necessary bottom-up reform innovations. The paper suggests that a new legal framework should be considered to provide guidance for reform pathways and innovations under the deepening of the rule of law.