Author: Youlang Zhang

Publisher:  Taylor & Francis Group

ISBN: 9780367460839

Book Description:  

Local government innovation has become one of the most important topics on China’s policy agenda in recent decades. This book explains why some local governments are more innovative than others. This book uses a novel theoretical framework and points out that in China’s multi-level government structure, the administrative hierarchy and the span of control could shape local governments’ innovation motivation, innovation capability, and innovation opportunity, thus influencing local government innovativeness. The author systematically analysed the 177 winners and finalists of the biennial Innovations and Excellence in Chinese Local Governance (IECLG) Awards Programme from 2001 to 2015 to provide convincing empirical evidence to support this theory. This book adopts an institutional approach to explaining local government innovativeness in China and may be a useful reference to help us learn more about local government decisions and behaviours.

About The Author: 

Youlang Zhang, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the School of Public Administration and Policy at Renmin University of China. His research interests include policy process, citizen participation, and bureaucratic politics. His recent publications have appeared in Public Administration Review, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Administration, Policy Studies Journal, American Review of Public Administration, Public Management Review, International Public Management Journal, China Quarterly, and other journals.

Contents: 

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 2 EXPLANATIONS FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT INNOVATION IN CHINA

CHAPTER 3 AN INSTITUTIONAL THEORY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT INNOVATIVENESS

1. THE STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MULTI-LEVEL BUREAUCRATIC ORGANISATIONS IN CHINA

2. LOCAL GOVERNMENT INNOVATIVENESS ALONG THE ADMINISTRATIVE HIERARCHY

3. LOCAL GOVERNMENT INNOVATIVENESS ALONG THE SPAN OF CONTROL

CHAPTER 4 THE INNOVATIONS AND EXCELLENCE IN CHINESE LOCAL GOVERNANCE AWARDS PROGRAMME

CHAPTER 5 AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION BASED ON THE IECLG AWARDS PROGRAMME

1. THE MEASUREMENT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT INNOVATIVENESS

2. THE ADMINISTRATIVE HIERARCHY AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT INNOVATIVENESS

3. THE SPAN OF CONTROL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT INNOVATIVENESS

（1） Provincial-level Statistical Analysis

（2） City-level Statistical Analysis

CHAPTER 6. CONCLUSION

Reference: 

Youlang Zhang. 2021. Local Government Innovativeness in China.

London, UK: Routledge Press.

ISBN: 9780367460839.