Abstract
Along with the deepening of market-oriented reforms, great changes have taken place in urban China, with the social structure more complex, the social interests more diversified, and thus the urban society much more fragmented. At the same time, as all sorts of economic, administrative and social responsibilities have been decentralized to the local governments, the Chinese cities-governed by the local governments-have become the crucial arenas for the (local) state to exercise its power. As a result, the state-society relations incline to be localized in contemporary China. In such context, the authors attempt to analyze how the local governments response and adapt to the changing state-society relations by inventing a series of depoliticized, instrumental and routinized governance techniques. Based on a case study of urban law enforcement in A City, we propose and scrutinize three points of rationales of local governance, which account for the governmental efforts on the innovation of urban governance techniques. First, the local government intends to establish legal-rational authority through standardized documents and "rule by law". Second, the local government attempts to increase the citizen satisfaction with better administrative performance and accountability. Third, the local government also strives to justify its moral legitimacy by presenting moral symbols and providing social services. In the end, the authors conclude that being faced with the fragmented urban society, both the paradigm of local governance and the state-society relationsin China are transforming-from "organizing" and "mobilizing" during the planned-economy period to emphasizing "accountability/responsiveness" and "good governance" in the post-reform.
Translated title of the contribution | Fragmented Urban Society and Innovation of Local Governance: A Case Study of Urban Law Enforcement in A City |
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Original language | Chinese (Simplified) |
Pages (from-to) | 39-48 |
Journal | 上海行政学院学报 |
Volume | 19 |
Issue number | 4 |
Publication status | Published - Jul 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Full text of this publication does not contain sufficient affiliation information. With consent from the author(s) concerned, the Research Unit(s) information for this record is based on the existing academic department affiliation of the author(s).Research Keywords
- 碎片化城市社会
- 地方政府
- 技术治理
- 城管综合执法