Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T09:33:46.817Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Online Consultation and the Institutionalization of Transparency and Participation in Chinese Policymaking

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2020

Steven J. Balla  and
Zhoudan Xie
Steven J. Balla*
Affiliation:
The George Washington University.
Zhoudan Xie
Affiliation:
The George Washington University. Email: [email protected].
*
Email: [email protected] (corresponding author).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines the institutionalization of online consultation, a prominent instrument of governance reform in contemporary China in which government organizations make public draft laws and regulations and solicit input from interested parties prior to finalizing decisions. The article specifically analyses the extent to which online consultation is a durable governance reform that enhances transparency and participation in policymaking. The analysis focuses on the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) and Guangzhou Municipal Government (GMG), leading organizations in the implementation of online consultation. Through the analysis of original datasets consisting of hundreds of policies proposed by the MOC and GMG and thousands of comments submitted in response to these drafts, the article demonstrates that online consultation has institutionalized government transparency but has not consistently enhanced public participation. Although online consultation has the potential to transform policymaking, the evidence suggests that strong confidence in this possibility is not warranted.

摘要

摘要

本文就中国网络问政的制度化进行了探讨。网络问政是现代中国行政管理改革的一种重要形式，指的是政府通过网络公开法律法规草案并对其征求公众意见。本文围绕网络问政是否能作为一种持久的行政管理改革加强政策制定中的透明度与参与度进行了实证分析。针对执行网络问政的两个主要政府机关，即商务部和广州市政府，本文分析了数百条政策草案以及相关的数千条公众意见。 研究发现，网络问政实现了政务公开的制度化，却尚未系统地加强公众参与。虽然网络问政有变革政策制定的可能性，然而证据表明这种可能性还未有实现的趋势。

Keywords

government transparencypublic participationinstitutionalizationgovernance reformonline consultationChina政务公开公众参与制度化行政管理改革网络问政中国
Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 246 , June 2021 , pp. 473 - 496
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS University of London, 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the SOAS University of London

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Almen, Oscar. 2018. “Participatory innovations under authoritarianism: accountability and responsiveness in Hangzhou's social assessment of government performance.” Journal of Contemporary China 27(110), 165–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alpermann, Bjorn. 2009. “Institutionalizing village governance in China.” Journal of Contemporary China 18(60), 397–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balla, Steven J. 2012. “Information technology, political participation, and the evolution of Chinese policymaking.” Journal of Contemporary China 21(76), 655–673.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balla, Steven J. 2017. “Is consultation the ‘new normal’? Online policymaking and governance reform in China.” Journal of Chinese Political Science 22(3), 375–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balla, Steven J., and Liao, Zhou. 2013. “Online consultation and citizen feedback in Chinese policymaking.” Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 42(3), 101–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, John L., Quincy, Charles, Osserman, Jordan and Pedersen, Ove K.. 2013. “Coding in-depth semi-structured interviews: problems of unitization and intercoder reliability and agreement.” Sociological Methods and Research 42(3), 294–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Dan. 2016. “The safety valve analogy in Chinese politics.” Journal of East Asian Studies 16(2), 281–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Jidong, and Xu, Yiqing. 2017. “Why do authoritarian regimes allow citizens to voice opinions publicly?” Journal of Politics 79(3), 792–803.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Xuelian, and Göbel, Christian. 2016. “Regulations against revolution: mapping policy innovations in China.” Journal of Chinese Governance 1(1), 78–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cucciniello, Maria, Porumbescu, Gregory A. and Grimmelikhuijsen, Stephan. 2017. “25 years of transparency research: evidence and future directions.” Public Administration Review 77(1), 32–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickson, Bruce J. 2011. “Updating the China model.” Washington Quarterly 34(4), 39–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duckett, Jane, and Wang, Hua. 2013. “Extending political participation in China: new opportunities for citizens in the policy process.” Journal of Asian Public Policy 6(3), 263–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ergenc, Ceren. 2014. “Political efficacy through deliberative participation in urban China: a case study on public hearings.” Journal of Chinese Political Science 19(2), 191–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fewsmith, Joseph. 2013. The Logic and Limits of Political Reform in China. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fishkin, James S., He, Baogang, Luskin, Robert C. and Siu, Alice. 2010. “Deliberative democracy in an unlikely place: deliberative polling in China.” British Journal of Political Science 40(2), 435–448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fishkin, James S., Senges, Max, Donahoe, Eileen, Diamond, Larry and Siu, Alice. 2018. “Deliberative polling for multistakeholder internet governance: considered judgments on access for the next billion.” Information, Communication & Society 21(11), 1541–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ford, Peter. 2012. “Is China opening up?” Christian Science Monitor, 5 March, http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2012/0305/Is-China-opening-up.Google Scholar
Fu, Hualing. 2018. “The July 9th (709) crackdown on human rights lawyers: legal advocacy in an authoritarian state.” Journal of Contemporary China 27(112), 554–568.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fung, Archon. 2006. “Varieties of participation in complex governance.” Public Administration Review 66(s1), 66–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fung, Archon. 2012. “Continuous institutional innovation and the pragmatic conception of democracy.” Polity 44(4), 609–624.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallagher, Mary E. 2006. “Mobilizing the law in China: ‘informed disenchantment’ and the development of legal consciousness.” Law and Society Review 40(4), 783–816.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grimmelikhuijsen, Stephan, Porumbescu, Gregory, Hong, Boram and Im, Tobin. 2013. “The effect of transparency on trust in government: a cross-national comparative experiment.” Public Administration Review 73(4), 575–586.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
He, Baogang. 1997. The Democratic Implications of Civil Society in China. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
He, Baogang. 2014. “From village election to village deliberation in rural China: case study of a deliberative democracy experiment.” Journal of Chinese Political Science 19(2), 133–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
He, Baogang. 2015. “Reconciling deliberation and representation: Chinese challenges to deliberative democracy.” Representation 51(1), 35–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
He, Baogang, and Warren, Mark E.. 2011. “Authoritarian deliberation: the deliberative turn in Chinese political development.” Perspectives on Politics 9(2), 269–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heilmann, Sebastian. 2008. “Policy experimentation in China's economic rise.” Studies in International Comparative Development 43(1), 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heurlin, Christopher. 2016. Responsive Authoritarianism in China: Land, Protests, and Policy Making. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hibbing, John R., and Theiss-Morse, Elizabeth. 2001. “Process preferences and American politics: what the people want government to be.” American Political Science Review 95(1), 145–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horsley, Jamie P. 2009. “Public participation in the People's Republic: developing a more participatory governance model in China,” https://law.yale.edu/sites/default/files/documents/pdf/Intellectual_Life/CL-PP-PP_in_the__PRC_FINAL_91609.pdf. Accessed 1 May 2020.Google Scholar
Horsley, Jamie P. 2018. “China implements more participatory rulemaking under Communist Party.” The Regulatory Review, 15 March, https://www.theregreview.org/2018/03/15/horsley-china-implements-participatory-rulemaking/.Google Scholar
Huntington, Samuel P. 1965. “Political development and political decay.” World Politics 17(3), 386–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huntington, Samuel P. 1991. The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.Google Scholar
Johnson, Carolina, and Gastil, John. 2015. “Varieties of institutional design for empowered deliberation.” Journal of Public Deliberation 11(1), article 2.Google Scholar
Kornreich, Yoel. 2019. “Authoritarian responsiveness: online consultation with ‘issue publics’ in China.” Governance 32(3), 547–564.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kornreich, Yoel, Vertinsky, Ilan and Potter, Pitman B.. 2012. “Consultation and deliberation in China: the making of China's health-care reform.” The China Journal 68, 176–203.Google Scholar
Kui, Shen. 2018. “Participatory rulemaking in China needs even more effort.” The Regulatory Review, 9 April, https://www.theregreview.org/2018/04/09/shen-participatory-rulemaking-china/.Google Scholar
Leib, Ethan J., and He, Baogang. 2010. The Search for Deliberative Democracy in China. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Levitsky, Steven, and Way, Lucan A.. 2002. “The rise of competitive authoritarianism.” Journal of Democracy 13(2), 51–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lorentzen, Peter L. 2013. “Regularizing rioting: permitting public protest in an authoritarian regime.” Quarterly Journal of Political Science 8(2), 127–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKinnon, Rebecca. 2012. Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Magaloni, Beatriz. 2006. Voting for Autocracy: Hegemonic Party Survival and its Demise in Mexico. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nathan, Andrew J. 1986. Chinese Democracy. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
O'Brien, Kevin J., and Han, Rongbin. 2009. “Path to democracy? Assessing village elections in China.” Journal of Contemporary China 18(60), 359–378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Brien, Kevin J., and Li, Lianjiang. 2000. “Accommodating ‘democracy’ in a one-party state: introducing village elections in China.” The China Quarterly 162, 465–489.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polsby, Nelson W. 1968. “The institutionalization of the US House of Representatives.” American Political Science Review 62(1), 144–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porumbescu, Gregory A., Lindeman, Meghan I.H., Ceka, Erica and Cucciniello, Maria. 2017. “Can transparency foster more understanding and compliant citizens?” Public Administration Review 77(6), 840–850.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stasavage, David. 2003. “Transparency, democratic accountability, and the economic consequences of monetary institutions.” American Journal of Political Science 47(3), 389–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stromseth, Jonathan R., Malesky, Edmund J. and Gueorguiev, Dimitar D.. 2017. China's Governance Puzzle: Enabling Transparency and Participation in a Single-party State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tan, Qingshan. 2010. “Why village election has not much improved village governance.” Journal of Chinese Political Science 15(2), 153–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teets, Jessica C., and Hurst, William. 2015. Local Governance in China: Experimentation, Diffusion, and Defiance. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
United States Trade Representative. 2015. “2015 report to Congress on China's WTO compliance,” https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/2015-Report-to-Congress-China-WTO-Compliance.pdf.Google Scholar
US–China Business Council. 2015. “China 2015 regulatory transparency scorecard,” https://www.uschina.org/reports/china-2015-regulatory-transparency-scorecard.Google Scholar
Wang, Shaoguang. 2008. “Changing models of China's policy agenda setting.” Modern China 34(1), 56–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Zhen. 2017. “Government work reports: securing state legitimacy through institutionalization.” The China Quarterly 229, 195–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilking, Jennifer R., and Zhang, Guang. 2018. “Who cares about procedural fairness? An experimental approach to support for village elections.” Journal of Chinese Political Science 23(2), 177–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ye, Lin. 2009. “Regional government and governance in China and the United States.” Public Administration Review 69, S116–S121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar