Representation as Responsiveness in China

Bibliographic Data

ID8369450
AuthorsZhongyuan Wang (0000-0002-3516-5353, Zhongyuan Wang is an Assistant Professor and Research Fellow at the Fudan Institute for Advanced Study in Social Sciences, Fudan University, China. His research interests include comparative political institutions, election studies, political representation, local politics and governance, European politics, and governmental big data. He is an editor of the Journal of Chinese Political Science and, corresponding author), Jianjun Liu (0000-0002-3255-3019, Jianjun Liu is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Sciences, School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University, China. He is also Vice President of the Shanghai Community Development Research Centre and Director of the Contemporary China Research Center at Fudan University. His research focuses on the Chinese political system, comparative political institutio, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume60
Issue2
Pages366-390
Publication date2020-04-07
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAsian Survey (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0004-4687 • E-ISSN: 1533-838X
PublisherUniversity of California Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1525/as.2020.60.2.366
OpenAlexW3017295086
LanguageEN
Citations received14

Studies of political representation have focused on responsiveness driven by electoral mechanisms in liberal-democratic regimes. In a single-party system like China’s, how does the government respond to citizens’ service requests? Whose and what interests are being represented in governmental responsiveness, and to what extent? This article explores these questions through the lens of “representation as responsiveness” by analyzing an exclusive data set from the city public service hotline in Shanghai. Data analyses show that Chinese municipalities have good responsiveness to citizens’ practical concerns, and the quality of responsive representation has been improving in recent years. However, some groups of residents tend to be underserved for multiple reasons. This article argues that a responsive model of authoritarian representation will become a significant source of resilience for the party regime

Authoritarianism · Business · China · Democracy · Diversity (politics · Government (linguistics · Hotline · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Psychological resilience · Public relations · Representation (politics · Service (business · Set (abstract data type · Sociology · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Computer Science · Law · Psychology · Public Administration · Social Psychology

Tools

Open DOI