China in the era of ‘Top-level design’: hard steering by the central commission for comprehensively deepening reform (CCCDR) in National policymaking

X. C. Chen and Gunter Schubert

Journal of Chinese Governance, 2024, vol. 9, issue 4, 537-557

Abstract: This article reviews the history and working mode of the Central Commission for Comprehensively Deepening Reform (CCCDR) to shed light on the underpinnings of ‘top-level design’ in China’s policy process. We demonstrate the paradoxical nature of the CCCDR’s ‘hard steering’: on the one hand, agenda-setting and the creation of major reform policies has been centralized and highly formalized; on the other hand, local circumstances are not adequately taken into account, resulting in low resource-efficiency in policy implementation. This article makes an important contribution to our understanding of the Chinese policy process under conditions of ‘top-level design’. By showing how political steering is conducted at the central level and by drawing on a case study, we also critically assess the CCP’s governing capacity in the Xi Jinping era.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/23812346.2024.2372741 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rgovxx:v:9:y:2024:i:4:p:537-557

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rgov20

DOI: 10.1080/23812346.2024.2372741

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Chinese Governance is currently edited by Sujian Guo

More articles in Journal of Chinese Governance from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().