Governance and Public Administration in China

China has traditionally been held up around the world as the archetype of centralised governance and a top-down system of public administration. But to what extent does this remain true of modern China? This book provides an updated perspective on modern China through a series of cutting edge, original studies focusing on public administration in China.

The book opens with an overview of the key political institutions and the evolution of public administration research in China, followed by two distinct sections. Part I contains studies focusing on power, governance, and administration. Part II focuses on ‘what works’ in solving wicked problems in Chinese society. The volume shows that China has seen some localisation and decentralisation, alongside experiments with collaboration and networked-based policy making. However, the system of governance and public administration remains innately top-down and centralised with the centre holding strong policy levers and control over society. As the pandemic revealed, this statist approach provided both governing opportunities and disadvantages.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Policy Studies.

Toby S. James is Professor of Politics and Public Policy at the University of East Anglia, UK. He is Editor-in-Chief of Policy Studies and Co-Director of the Electoral Integrity Project. His most recent books are The Trump Administration: The President’s Legacy Within and Beyond America and Electoral Integrity and Covid-19: Lessons from and International Crisis.

Wei Liu is Associate Professor at the School of Public Administration and Policy at the Renmin University of China, Beijing, China. Her areas of research expertise are local government innovation and diffusion, non-profit management, global governance, and China politics.

Caixia Man is a PhD candidate at the University of East Anglia, UK, and at the Southern University of Science and Technology, China. Her research focuses on China politics and environmental governance through an interdisciplinary perspective and approach.