Local variation and central-local relations in China’s pandemic management

Bibliographic Data

ID12911192
AuthorsCeren Ergenç (0000-0003-1122-0036, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume17
Issue3
Pages359-383
Publication date2022-12-22
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Asian Public Policy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1751-6242 • E-ISSN: 1751-6234
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17516234.2022.2158214
OpenAlexW4312155239
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited48

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the importance of state capacity and organizational structure in responding to public health emergencies. The variegated outcome of response mechanisms across the world requires a comparative approach to policy response and learning as well as public governance. The Chinese case has so far been discussed in the literature with regard to its initial delay in launching pandemic management process, and later effectiveness in providing healthcare solutions at the epicenter of the pandemic. This research offers a three-dimensional approach to pandemic management: patient treatment, case containment, and welfare provision to compensate for public health measures. The variable policy processes of local governments outside the epicenter aimed at slowing down the spread of COVID-19 and alleviating the burden of lockdown. The research question is whether these policies were central government-led or cases of local variation? The dataset is composed of over 1000 documents published in the initial stages of the pandemic. The documents include local government policies for patient treatment, case containment and welfare provision from 10 provinces and 10 provincial-level cities across China, excluding the autonomous regions. Analysis of the data indicates that localities selectively implemented central directives and those localities that are critical in terms of geography, demography or economics took initiative for policy innovation. Inter-locality rivalry also played a role in the policy process. This research contributes to the literature on central-local relations in China, and public policy and governance in the post-pandemic era. China, Covid-19, local governance, local variation, emergency governance.KEYWORDS: ChinaCovid-19local governancecentral-local relationspolicy variationemergency management AcknowledgementsI would like to thank Chaofan Yu and Xiangdong Chen for their assistance in data collection and organization. I would like to thank my students in China’s Government and Politics in Spring 2020 for their continued enthusiasm even though they were all confined to home throughout the semester and we were only able to meet online. I would like to thank my colleagues in the Jiangnan scholarly community for the feedback I received in our annual conference.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsCeren ErgencCeren Ergenc is an associate professor at the department of China Studies at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. Her research interests include public policy and urban politics with an area focus on contemporary China and East Asia. Among her publications are Urbanization, Spatial Segregation and Class Encounters in China in Social Relations and Political Development in China Change and Continuity in the “New Era” (ed. Pavlicevic and Wang), Routledge with Sirma Altun (2020); Political Efficacy Through Deliberative Participation In Urban China: A Case Study On Public Hearings, Journal of Chinese Political Science, Vol 19 Issue 2 pp 191-213 (2014); and,The Handbook on Local Government and Politics in China, Edward Elgar Publishing (edited with David S.G. Goodman, 2023)

Business · Central government · China · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Corporate governance · Development economics · Disease · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Government (linguistics · Local government · Pandemic · Political science · Public health · Public policy · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Healthcare Systems and Reforms · Medicine · Public Administration

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