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

A key feature of Chinese governance is the strong and strategic engagement of a very powerful central government in local policy implementation capacity building. This research uses a comprehensive case study of a local collaborative cross-jurisdictional infrastructure project to develop 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? Results show 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. These findings, through further testing and refinement, can be used to develop a comprehensive explanation of the Chinese government’s policy implementation capacity building process.