Political Efficacy through Deliberative Participation in Urban China: A Case Study on Public Hearings

Journal of Chinese Political Science - Tập 19 - Trang 191-213 - 2014
Ceren Ergenc1
1Department of International Relations & Asian Studies Program, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

Tóm tắt

Since the early 2000s, local governments in China have been holding public hearings to solicit opinion from state, city and township residents about legal and administrative issues. Having begun with a relatively small participation rate, in the last 10 years public hearings have achieved sustainable growth in their frequency and visibility in mainstream and social media. Given that public hearings do not offer decision-making power, the increased participation rate reveals an influence not necessarily on public policy making, but on urban citizens’ attitudes towards available participatory and deliberative mechanisms. This article refers to three bodies of literature: political efficacy, deliberative democracy, and social movements. The literature on political efficacy reveals the link between political attitudes and behaviors. The literature on deliberative democracy is an important part of the analysis because Chinese public hearings are based on deliberative designs imported from North America and Western Europe. The literature on social movements complements the deliberative analysis undertaken in an authoritarian context by providing it with conceptual tools to adapt to this new setting. The public hearings held in Guiyang (Guizhou), Wuhan (Hubei) and Qingdao (Shandong) in 2010 and 2011 are used as case studies to demonstrate participation demographics and the impact of public hearing participation on city dwellers. This article investigates the impact of participation in public hearings on the political efficacy of Chinese citizens, and, based on the results, contends that such participation equips the participants with an increased level of political efficacy, and enables the development of political networks and citizen strategies that help to constrain local officials.

Tài liệu tham khảo

Gilley, B. 2004. China's Democratic Future: How It Will Happen and Where It Will Lead, 120. New York: Columbia University Press.

Li, Ruichang, and Qianwei Zhu. 2010. Public policy processes and public participation. In Public Administration in East Asia: Mainland China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, ed. Evan M. Berman, M. Jae Moon, and Heungsuk Choi, 58–59. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

He, B., and M.E. Warren. 2011. Authoritarian deliberation: The deliberative turn in chinese political development. Perspectives on Politics 9: 276–279.

Dryzek, J.S. 2010. Foundations and Frontiers of Deliberative Governance, 277. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

He, B., and M.E. Warren. 2011. Authoritarian deliberation: The deliberative turn in Chinese political development. Perspectives on Politics 9: 277.

L. Zhang. 2012. The opportunity and dilemma of legislative public hearings in china from a political participation perspective. Comparative Economic & Social Systems, Editorial E-mail 04.

Liu, Guiyang Y. 2010. Local elections: The elusive quest for choice. In China today, China tomorrow: Domestic Politics, Economy, and Society, ed. J. Fewsmith, 176. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield.

Peng, Zongchao, L. Xue, and K. Kan. 2004. The Public Hearing System in China. Beijing: Qinghua University Press.

Wang, Xixin. 2003. Public Participation and its Limits: An Observation and Evaluation on Public Hearings as Experimented in China’s Administrative Process. Available online. www.publiclaw.cn. http://www.publiclaw.cn/article/Details.asp?NewsId=220&Classid=&ClassName=.

Papadopoulos, Yannis. 2002. Is ‘Governance’ A Form of ‘Deliberative Democracy’?. Paper presented at the ECPR Joint Sessions of Workshops, Turin, 22–27 March 2002: Workshop. The Politics of Metropolitan Governance. 10.

Fung, Archon. 2003. Recipes for public spheres: Eight institutional design choices and their consequences. Journal of Political Philosophy 11(3): 338–367.

Hu, X. 2011. The Effects of Political Participation on Political Efficacy: An Analysis of China’s 2005 Survey on Self-Governance at the Village Level. Unpublished MA thesis. Illinois State University. 6.

Almond, Gabriel A., and Verba Sidney. 1963. The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Putnam, Robert. 1983. Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Finkel, S.E. 1987. The effects of participation on political efficacy and political support: Evidence from a West German panel. Journal of Politics 49(2): 441–464.

Morell, Michael E. 2005. Deliberation, democratic decision-making and internal political efficacy. Political Behavior 27(1): 49–69.

Nabatchi, T. 2007. Deliberative Democracy: The Effects of Participation on Political Efficacy. Unpublished dissertation, Indiana University.

He, Baogang. 2006. Participatory and deliberative institutions in China. In The search for Deliberative Democracy in China, ed. Ethan J. Leib and Baogang He, 175–196. New York: Palgrave.

O’Brien, Kevin J., and Lianjiang Li. 2006. Rightful Resistance in Rural China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Read, Benjamin. 2009. The multiple uses of local networks: State cultivation of neighborhood social capital in China and Taiwan. In Local Organizations and Urban Governance in East and Southeast Asia: Straddling State and Society, ed. Benjamin L. Read and Robert Pekkanen. London: Routledge.

Tomba, L. 2008. Making neighbourhoods: The government of social change in China’s cities. China Perspectives 76(4): 48–61.

Fung, Archon. 2006. Varieties of participation in complex governance. Public Administration Review 66: 66–75.

Tilly, Charles. 2006. Regimes and Repertoires. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Six Statements on Public Hearings, NDRC. 2010. Available online National Reform and Development Committee announcement on public hearings. http://www.ndrc.gov.cn/xwfb/t20100107_323591.htm.

He, and Warren. 2007. Authoritarian deliberation. In The Search for Deliberative Democracy in China, ed. Ethan J. Leib and Baogang He. New York: Palgrave.

Moore, Allison, and Adriana Warren. 2006. Legal advocacy in environmental public participation in China: Raising the stakes and strengthening stakeholders. China Environment Series 5. Available at http://www.208elmp02.blackmesh.com/sites/default/files/CEF_Feature.1.pdf. Accessed 24 Aug 2012.

Diani, M., et al. 2006. Networks and participation. In The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements, ed. Snow, 341–346. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.

Walsh, Katherine. 2004. Talking About Politics: Informal Groups and Social Identity in American Life. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

McAdam, Douglas. 2009. The U.S. Civil rights movement: Power from below and above, 1945–1970. In Civil Resistance and Power Politics, ed. Adam Roberts and Timothy Garton Ash, 58–74. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Pateman, Carole. 1970. Participation and Democratic Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dahl, Robert. 1998. On Democracy. London: Yale University Press.

Habermas, Jürgen. 1987. The theory of communicative action. In Volume 2, Lifeworld and System: A Critique of Functionalist Reason. Beacon Press.

Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

Journal of Chinese Political Science

Tập 19

191-213

Thông tin tác giả