Journal ArticleDOI
Evaluation Processes, Local Cadres' Behaviour and Local Development Processes
Thomas Heberer,René Trappel +1 more
TLDR
In this paper, the authors investigated the impact of political evaluations on the behavior of leading county and township cadres in rural China and found that the performance evaluation system and its targets have become an important point of orientation for local cadres, although there are important variations among different groups of officials.Abstract:
This study investigates the impact of political evaluations on the behaviour of leading county and township cadres in rural China. The article is structured in two parts. In the first section the institutional foundations of the evaluation system for local administrations in rural China will be introduced. The section will conclude with a brief overview of policy reforms initiated by the centre to tackle some of the perceived shortcomings of the present system. The second part of this article will feature the behavioural responses of local cadres to evaluations as identified in our field research interviews and secondary literature. It becomes obvious that the performance evaluation system and its targets have become an important point of orientation for local cadres—although there are important variations among different groups of officials. Finally, in the conclusion the argument for an alternative perspective on performance evaluations in the context of rural China will be developed: on the one side a ...read more
Citations
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Making Bureaucracy Work: Patronage Networks, Performance Incentives, and Economic Development in China
TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper argued that patron-client relations can be used to improve government performance by resolving principal-agent problems within political hierarchies, and examined how patronage networks shape economic performance of local governments in China.
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Effective Policy Implementation in China’s Local State
Anna L. Ahlers,Gunter Schubert +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, a thorough investigation of local implementation mechanisms, however, is often hindered by hindering the thorough evaluation of the local implementation mechanism, which is a core component of Chinese political system's adaptability and stability.
Journal ArticleDOI
China in a World of Orders: Rethinking Compliance and Challenge in Beijing's International Relations
TL;DR: The authors argue that many scholars and policymakers in the United States accept the narrative that China is a revisionist state challenging the U.S.-dominated international liberal order. But they do not consider that the narrative assumes that the...
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Pernicious Manipulation of Performance Measures in China's Cadre Evaluation System*
TL;DR: It is found that the distinct design of the measurement system – the combination of result-oriented targets imposed from above and high-powered incentives for target fulfilment – induces pernicious gaming.
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“Supervision by Public Opinion” or by Government Officials? Media Criticism and Central-Local Government Relations in China:
TL;DR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors explain why the authoritarian regime tolerates criticism of the party-state and offer an explanation based on polarity of the polarity in the media.
References
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Audit cultures: Neoliberal governmentality, socialist legacy, or technologies of governing?
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze the social processes of performance audits in a variety of cases in China, other postsocialist nations, and a U.S. workplace with Chinese immigrant employees.
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The Institutional Logic of Collusion among Local Governments in China
TL;DR: A salient organizational phenomenon in the Chinese bureaucracy is collusion among local governments in response to policies and directives from higher authorities; local governments often form alli... as discussed by the authors,...
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Governing by goals and numbers: A case study in the use of performance measurement to build state capacity in China
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine why performance measurement has been designed and implemented as an instrument for building state capacity and for ensuring policy compliance in China and argue that performance measurement accrues significant political benefits to its users.
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The Hollow State: Rural Governance in China
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine which ongoing reforms and processes are causing township governments to become hollow shells, and explore the effects of hollowing out on township government leaders, staff and rural residents.
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Rebuilding Government for the 21st Century: Can China Incrementally Reform the Public Sector?*
TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper argue that the reactive, incremental retrenchment of government in the 1980s and 1990s, combined with inadequate finance, had broken the intergovernmental fiscal system and created large distortions in the incentive structure facing government agencies and public institutions.