scholarly journals Online Consultation and Citizen Feedback in Chinese Policymaking

2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 101-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven J. Balla ◽  
Zhou Liao
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Chinese Communist Party ◽  
National Development ◽  
Great Depth ◽  
The Political ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Governance Reform ◽  
Online Consultation ◽  
Government Decision ◽  
Laws And Regulations

In recent years, the Chinese government has increasingly utilised online consultation as a means of providing citizens with opportunities to offer feedback on draft laws and regulations. As little is known about the operation of online consultation, this article analyses the content of citizen feedback submitted on a revision to China's health system proposed by the National Development and Reform Commission. Citizen engagement with the political and substantive issues under consideration is crucial if online consultation is to impact government decision-making and enhance the performance of laws and regulations. This paper's main findings are that it was common for comments to address substantive issues in great depth, as well as express negative assessments of government decisions. This suggests that online consultation holds promise as an instrument of governance reform, which the Chinese Communist Party has embraced as a means of cultivating popular support.

Rural Dibao: The Countryside and Fragmentation

2019 ◽  
pp. 89-105
Author(s):  
Daniel R. Hammond
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Government ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Common Source ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Social Stability ◽  
Political Structure ◽  
Programme Implementation ◽  
Administrative Capacity

In 2007 the Chinese government nationally implemented the rural dibao programme. The chapter argues that while the circumstances of rural dibao’s implementation were different from its urban predecessor there are three striking similarities. First, in terms of values, it is argued that the rural dibao programme did fit comfortably with the agenda under Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao to address China’s unequal development and in particular the san nong wenti of the countryside. However, the process surrounding implementation of the rural programme also carried appeals to social stability. Second, the political structure had a significant impact on the implementation of the rural MLG. As with the urban programme implementation faced local intransigence. This was overcome by not only using similar means as with the urban programme; but also through explicitly dealing with one common source of problems, funding. Finally, there is the problem of administrative capacity in running the rural MLG programme. This appears as a classic outcome of the fragmented political and decision making structure in China where local government, often struggling to meet mandates passed down from above, prioritises the resources it has. What this all shows is that the challenges facing social assistance in China are not specific to the urban or the rural programme; but are a consequence of the structure of the state.

scholarly journals Executive power in emergencies: Where is the accountability?

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 168-174
Author(s):  
Janina Boughey
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
The Political ◽  
Government Decision

Australia’s system of law and government contains a range of mechanisms through which the executive branch is held to account for its actions. However, in emergencies, these accountability mechanisms are often significantly eroded in a range of ways. This article examines how the forms and types of powers that Australian governments have relied on to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic have avoided many of the political, legal and administrative accountability mechanisms that ordinarily apply to government decision-making. It looks at whether these accountability limits are justified and asks whether we ought to be concerned.

Online Consultation and the Institutionalization of Transparency and Participation in Chinese Policymaking

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven J. Balla ◽  
Zhoudan Xie
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Municipal Government ◽  
Governance Reform ◽  
Contemporary China ◽  
Government Organizations ◽  
Government Transparency ◽  
Online Consultation ◽  
Laws And Regulations

Abstract This article examines the institutionalization of online consultation, a prominent instrument of governance reform in contemporary China in which government organizations make public draft laws and regulations and solicit input from interested parties prior to finalizing decisions. The article specifically analyses the extent to which online consultation is a durable governance reform that enhances transparency and participation in policymaking. The analysis focuses on the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) and Guangzhou Municipal Government (GMG), leading organizations in the implementation of online consultation. Through the analysis of original datasets consisting of hundreds of policies proposed by the MOC and GMG and thousands of comments submitted in response to these drafts, the article demonstrates that online consultation has institutionalized government transparency but has not consistently enhanced public participation. Although online consultation has the potential to transform policymaking, the evidence suggests that strong confidence in this possibility is not warranted.

UIGHURS IN XINJIANG: ECONOMIC DISCRIMINATION AND POLITICAL REPRESSION

2021 ◽  
pp. 173-175
Author(s):  
Anas Anas
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Communist Party ◽  
Relative Deprivation ◽  
Development Program ◽  
The Political ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Political Repression ◽  
Western Development ◽  
New Development ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Government

This paper deals with the political economy of systematic discrimination of Uighurs in Xinjiang, the Turkish minority in the province by the Chinese Communist Party. The various economic projects like the Western Development Program(WDP) and Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) further exacerbated the alienation of the ethnic minority. Through such programs, the Chinese government encouraged the Han population to Migrate into Xinjiang, and 'hanication'of the province culminated in widening the inequality and relative deprivation of the Uighurs. The tensions after the new development projects increased the secessionist and national tendencies among them. During the covid-19 outbreak, the government intensied the repressive measures, and the question of Uighurs in economic terms remains unresolved

The Political Appraisal of Employment Policies

1987 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Rose
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Policy Problem ◽  
The Third ◽  
Government Decision ◽  
Selection Of

ABSTRACTBecause employment is a problem of public policy, it involves elected politicians as well as economists designing policy instruments. The political appraisal of economic policies is necessary and often decisive in the selection of government policies. It first considers what we mean by saying that employment is a public policy problem. Secondly, it considers two attributes for appraising policies: political desirability, and economic effectiveness. In the third section alternative models of choice in conditions of uncertainty are presented, depending upon whether or not there is consensus among politicians about political desirability, and whether or not there is consensus among economists about the effectiveness of a policy. The concluding section considers conditions for integrating political and economic appraisals in government decision making.

Women in Power and Decision making Positions : Conditions and Restraints

1970 ◽  
pp. 53-57
Author(s):  
Azza Charara Baydoun
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Policies And Procedures ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Status ◽  
Slow Progress

Women today are considered to be outside the political and administrative power structures and their participation in the decision-making process is non-existent. As far as their participation in the political life is concerned they are still on the margins. The existence of patriarchal society in Lebanon as well as the absence of governmental policies and procedures that aim at helping women and enhancing their political participation has made it very difficult for women to be accepted as leaders and to be granted votes in elections (UNIFEM, 2002).This above quote is taken from a report that was prepared to assess the progress made regarding the status of Lebanese women both on the social and governmental levels in light of the Beijing Platform for Action – the name given to the provisions of the Fourth Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995. The above quote describes the slow progress achieved by Lebanese women in view of the ambitious goal that requires that the proportion of women occupying administrative or political positions in Lebanon should reach 30 percent of thetotal by the year 2005!

Wegvoeringen en weggevoerden tijdens de meidagen van 1940

2014 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 250-259
Author(s):  
Etienne Verhoeyen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Large Majority ◽  
The Political ◽  
Extreme Right ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Belgian Society ◽  
Complete Study ◽  
History Of ◽  
Risky Business ◽  
Political Decision Making

Met dit boek levert Frank Seberechts een nagenoeg volledige studie af van een van de minder fraai kanten van de Belgische samenleving in 1940: de administratieve arrestatie en de wegvoering naar Frankrijk van enkele duizenden personen (de ‘verdachten’), Belgen of in België verblijvende vreemdelingen. De extreem-rechtse en pro-Duitse arrestanten hebben na hun vrijlating dit feit politiek in hun voordeel uitgebaat, waardoor volledig in de schaduw kwam te staan dat de overgrote meerderheid van de weggevoerden joodse mensen waren die in de jaren voor de oorlog naar België waren gevlucht. Dat het beeld van de wegvoeringen niet volledig is, is grotendeels te wijten aan het feit dat de meeste archieven die hierop betrekking hebben tijdens de meidagen van 1940 vernietigd werden. Met name de politieke besluitvorming over de wegvoeringen vertoont nog steeds schemerzones, zodat het vastleggen van verantwoordelijkheden ook vandaag nog een gewaagde onderneming is.________Deportations and the deported during the Maydays in 1940 By means of this book Frank Seberechts provides an almost complete study of one of the less admirable sides of Belgian society in 1940: the administrative arrest and the deportation to France of some thousands of people (‘the suspects’), Belgians or foreigners residing in Belgium. The extreme-right and pro-German detainees politically exploited this fact after they had been freed, but this completely overshadowed the point that the large majority of the deported people were Jews who had fled to Belgium during the years preceding the war. This incomplete portrayal of the deportations is mainly due to the fact that most of the archives relating to the events had been destroyed during the Maydays of 1940. The history of the political decision-making about the deportations in particular still shows many grey areas and it is therefore still a risky business even today to determine which people should be held accountable.

Varieties of Intra-Party Democracy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin von dem Berge ◽  
Thomas Poguntke
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Party ◽  
The Political ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Rare Exception ◽  
Empirical Analyses

This chapter introduces a new, two-dimensional way of measuring intra-party democracy (IPD). It is argued that assembly-based IPD and plebiscitary IPD are two theoretically different modes of intra-party decision-making. Assembly-based IPD means that discussion and decision over a certain topic takes place at the same time. Plebiscitary IPD disconnects the act of voting from the discussion over the alternatives that are put to a vote. In addition, some parties have opened up plebiscitary decision-making to non-members which is captured by the concept of open plebiscitary IPD. Based on the Political Party Database Project (PPDB) dataset, indices are developed for the three variants of IPD. The empirical analyses here show that assembly-based and plebiscitary IPD are combined by political parties in different ways while open party plebiscites are currently a rare exception.

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