Chinese Central Government Intervention in Local Policy Capacity Building: When and Why

XiaoHu Wang; Jinwei Li; Zhihang Yuan; Jingyuan Xu

Chinese Central Government Intervention in Local Policy Capacity Building: When and Why

XiaoHu Wang
, Jinwei Li
, Zhihang Yuan
, Jingyuan Xu^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Public and International Affairs

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

70 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

A key feature of Chinese governance is the strong and strategic engagement of a very powerful central government in local policy implementation capacity building. Employing data from local collaborative cross- jurisdictional infrastructure projects, this research develops a theoretical explanation for a key question regarding the Chinese governance model: under what policy circumstances does the central government engage in local policy implementation capacity building? The results reveal that a local policy implementation obstacle becomes a salient candidate for central intervention when local political disputes accumulate to indicate a significant outcome for the engagement. This insight, through further testing and refinement, can be used to develop a comprehensive explanation of the Chinese government’s capacity building process for policy implementation. © 2025 The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-41
Journal	The China Review
Volume	25
Issue number	1
Publication status	Published - Feb 2025

Funding

This work was supported by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council under Grant No. 9043083, “The role of authoritative imposition in collaborative actions,” and National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 72234001, “The theory and mechanism of public governance system reform and innovation.”

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

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This full text is made available under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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RGC-funded

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title = "Chinese Central Government Intervention in Local Policy Capacity Building: When and Why",

abstract = "A key feature of Chinese governance is the strong and strategic engagement of a very powerful central government in local policy implementation capacity building. Employing data from local collaborative cross- jurisdictional infrastructure projects, this research develops a theoretical explanation for a key question regarding the Chinese governance model: under what policy circumstances does the central government engage in local policy implementation capacity building? The results reveal that a local policy implementation obstacle becomes a salient candidate for central intervention when local political disputes accumulate to indicate a significant outcome for the engagement. This insight, through further testing and refinement, can be used to develop a comprehensive explanation of the Chinese government{\textquoteright}s capacity building process for policy implementation. {\textcopyright} 2025 The Chinese University of Hong Kong ",

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year = "2025",

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journal = "The China Review",

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T1 - Chinese Central Government Intervention in Local Policy Capacity Building

T2 - When and Why

AU - Wang, XiaoHu

AU - Li, Jinwei

AU - Yuan, Zhihang

AU - Xu, Jingyuan

PY - 2025/2

Y1 - 2025/2

N2 - A key feature of Chinese governance is the strong and strategic engagement of a very powerful central government in local policy implementation capacity building. Employing data from local collaborative cross- jurisdictional infrastructure projects, this research develops a theoretical explanation for a key question regarding the Chinese governance model: under what policy circumstances does the central government engage in local policy implementation capacity building? The results reveal that a local policy implementation obstacle becomes a salient candidate for central intervention when local political disputes accumulate to indicate a significant outcome for the engagement. This insight, through further testing and refinement, can be used to develop a comprehensive explanation of the Chinese government’s capacity building process for policy implementation. © 2025 The Chinese University of Hong Kong

AB - A key feature of Chinese governance is the strong and strategic engagement of a very powerful central government in local policy implementation capacity building. Employing data from local collaborative cross- jurisdictional infrastructure projects, this research develops a theoretical explanation for a key question regarding the Chinese governance model: under what policy circumstances does the central government engage in local policy implementation capacity building? The results reveal that a local policy implementation obstacle becomes a salient candidate for central intervention when local political disputes accumulate to indicate a significant outcome for the engagement. This insight, through further testing and refinement, can be used to develop a comprehensive explanation of the Chinese government’s capacity building process for policy implementation. © 2025 The Chinese University of Hong Kong

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M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal

SN - 1680-2012

VL - 25

SP - 1

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JO - The China Review

JF - The China Review

IS - 1

ER -

Chinese Central Government Intervention in Local Policy Capacity Building: When and Why

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

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GRF: The Role of Authoritative Imposition in Collaborative Actions: An Empirical Assessment of Procedural and Institutional Design Factors

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Chinese Central Government Intervention in Local Policy Capacity Building: When and Why

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Publisher's Copyright Statement

RGC Funding Information

Access Output

Other Access Options

Permanent Link

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Projects

GRF: The Role of Authoritative Imposition in Collaborative Actions: An Empirical Assessment of Procedural and Institutional Design Factors

Cite this