Download or read book The Unspoken Rules Between the Central and Local Governments in China s Land Governance written by Jianzi He and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Land lies in the center of China's political economy. Over the past four decades, local governments there consolidate control over urban land supply, aggressively push forward urbanization by land enclosure, and form developmental coalitions with powerful construction and real estate sectors to extract rents. The ongoing urban transformation unsurprisingly goes with rampant corruption, social unrest, and irrational public investment decisions that lead to inefficiency and macroeconomic instability. But all these problems do not stop China's rapid economic expansion. How could stable and long-lasting economic growth be achieved when local governments are predatory and opportunistic? Furthermore, how does the central government in China regulate its local agents in a way that does not demotivate them to pursue economic growth but at the same time prevents them from doing a severe damage to stability? This dissertation leverages qualitative and quantitative data to explore the central-local intergovernmental arrangements in China around land governance. My findings boil down to a set of unspoken rules between the two that are never formally articulated on paper yet implicitly practiced by the state actors. This set of interactive patterns helps balance control and flexibility, and makes the top-down authoritarian system adaptive to complex circumstances and changing demands. Firstly, from local governments' perspective, I show that savvy local officials can resist state policies in deceptive but routine ways to both deal with policy conflicts and avoid open confrontation with the central authorities. Such veiled bureaucratic resistance gives local government the latitude to adapt to complex local circumstances. Secondly, the central government follows a selective policy regulation scheme to deal with local policy deviations, granting extra toleration to those economically-capable localities while keeping high enforcement pressure elsewhere. Lastly, using the case of the evolution of China's urban land supply policies, I show the ad-hoc and volatile nature of policy-making in China and how central-local dynamics make policy adaptation possible. Taken together, the findings reveal a large gray area of policy regulation embedded in China's intergovernmental relations, which provides the party-state both a lubricant for pursuing economic development and a hurdle for building a real accountable government based on transparency and the real rule of law.
Download or read book China s Disappearing Countryside written by Yongjun Zhao and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-05-23 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While China’s hybrid rural land tenure system has contributed to agricultural development, it is interwoven with rising farmland loss and social conflicts.This book examines the linkages between land tenure, development and governance in the context of China’s development transformation. Drawing on empirical studies, it advocates the exploration of innovative land tenure systems that address the wider determinants: institutions, power, politics and social development. It argues that a land tenure system can only be sustainable when it is compatible with the overall biophysical, social, political and economic conditions. This new institutional lens into the conditions and dynamics of land tenure systems marks a paradigm shift away from those focusing on the narrow meaning of land rights and tenure security strengthening, as these approaches can paradoxically contribute to weaker land and resource governance. Contributing to an enhanced understanding of the challenges China faces in agricultural development and natural resource governance and to the international debates on land tenure reform, this book will be of interest to researchers, practitioners, policy-makers and students in development studies, anthropology, sociology, political sciences, law, geography, economics, public administration and other relevant disciplines. The lessons learnt from China also shed light on its global engagement on sustainable development and governance issues.
Download or read book Institutions in Transition written by Peter Ho and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-07-21 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: China's urban sprawl has led to serious social cleavages. Unclear land and property rights have resulted in an uneasy alliance between real estate companies and local authorities, with most willing to strike illegal deals over land. The results have been devastating. Farmers live in fear that the land they till today will be gone tomorrow, while urban citizens are regularly evicted from their homes to make way for new skyscrapers and highways.These shocking incidents underscore the urgency of the land question in China. The recent conviction of the Chinese Minister for Land Resources and the forced evictions that have led to the injury and death of ordinary Chinese citizens highlight the case for land reform. Against this backdrop, many scholars criticize China's lack of privatization and titling of property. This monograph, however, demonstrates that these critically depend on timing and place. Land titling is imperative for thewealthier regions, yet, may prove detrimental in areas with high poverty. The book argues that China's land reform can only succeed if the clarification of property rights is done with caution and ample regard for regional variations.
Download or read book Handbook on Local Governance in China written by Ceren Ergenc and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2023-09-21 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Demonstrating the crucial importance of local governance in China's development and international relations, this topical Handbook combines theoretical approaches with novel methodological tools to understand state-society relations at the local level. The Handbook assesses the formal mechanisms that organize territorial relations and scales of state to reconceptualize the local in China's sociopolitical history. Addressing the complexity of local governance, it examines both the state and societal actors that are involved in how local policies are designed and implemented. Chapters review the emerging literature on Chinese bureaucracy, central-local relations, administrative hierarchies, functional division of power in local governments, and policy innovation. Looking towards the future of the neoliberal capitalist world order, the Handbook also considers economic governance at the local level in the evolving contexts of digitalization and green transformation, before tackling issues related to social governance including housing policies and public services. Interdisciplinary in scope, this comprehensive Handbook will be essential to students and scholars of Asian politics, policy, urban studies, and regulation and governance. It will also benefit policymakers across Asia working in governmental regulation and public administration and management.
Download or read book Local Government and Politics in China written by Yang Zhong and published by M.E. Sharpe. This book was released on 2003 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study of local government and politics in China explores when and why local government officials comply with policy directives from above. It provides an in-depth look at policy implementation at the county and township levels in the PRC.
Download or read book Toward Better Governance in China written by Baogang Guo and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2009-11-12 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines contemporary Chinese political reform through an examination of a number of policy initiatives taken in recent years. These include programs designed to improve administrative efficiency, transparency, and accountability, as well as directives aimed at rebuilding the regime's political support though strengthening local legislatures, overhauling the health care system, enacting labor contract laws, opening up mass media, and improving governance in China's minority regions.
Download or read book Negotiating Rural Land Ownership in Southwest China written by Yi Wu and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2016-08-31 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Negotiating Rural Land Ownership in Southwest China offers the first comprehensive analysis of how China’s current system of land ownership has evolved over the past six decades. Based on extended fieldwork in Yunnan Province, the author explores how the three major rural actors—local governments, village communities, and rural households—have contested and negotiated land rights at the grassroots level, thereby transforming the structure of rural land ownership in the People’s Republic of China. At least two million rural settlements (or “natural villages”) are estimated to exist in China today. Formed spontaneously out of settlement choices over extended periods of time, these rural settlements are fundamentally different from the present-day administrative villages imposed by the government from above. Yi Wu’s historical ethnography sheds light on such “natural villages” and their role in shaping the current land ownership system. Drawing on local land disputes, archival documents, and rich local histories, the author unveils their enduring social identities in both the Maoist and reform eras. She pioneers the concept of “bounded collectivism” to describe what resulted from struggles between the Chinese state trying to establish collective land ownership, and rural settlements seeking exclusive control over land resources within their traditional borders. A particular contribution of this book is that it provides a nuanced understanding of how and why China’s rural land ownership is changing in post-Mao China. Yi Wu uses village-level data to show how local governments, rural communities, and rural households compete for use, income, and transfer rights in both agricultural production and the land market. She demonstrates that the current rural land ownership system in China is not a static system imposed by the state from above, but a constantly changing hybrid.
Download or read book Dynamics of Local Governance in China During the Reform Era written by Tse-Kang Leng and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2010 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dynamics of Local Governance in China during the Reform takes a close look at China's current transformation and its broader implications. Through their thought-provoking essays, the contributors to this volume dissect China's transformation by examining various topics in the field of contemporary China studies, such as rural industrialization, development of civic society, socio-economic transformation and local self-governance.
Download or read book GOVERNANCE MECHANISMS OF URBAN written by Xin Yao and published by Open Dissertation Press. This book was released on 2017-01-27 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This dissertation, "Governance Mechanisms of Urban Fringe Land Use in China: a Case Study of Nanjing" by Xin, Yao, 姚鑫, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Abstract of dissertation entitled Governance Mechanisms of Governance Mechanisms of Urban Fringe Land Use in China: Urban Fringe Land Use in China: A Case Study of Nanjing A Case Study of Nanjing Submitted by Xin Yao Xin Yao for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Hong Kong in April 2004 Urban sprawl has taken place since China carried out urban fringe land use planning over two decades ago. This dissertation endeavours to explore the factors leading to such weak controls over urban expansion. Many scholars have attributed these weak controls over urban fringe land use to land developers, managers, landowners and other land users, claiming that these land use agencies only look after their own interests. Other scholars have instead attributed such weak controls to local governments. They claim that these governments have failed to observe the policies of the Central government and they only have local development in mind. Nevertheless, such an approach is inapplicable to the actual economic situation, in which a transition from planned economy to socialist market economy has been taken place. Bear in mind that market forces and power of government coexist in the transition of socialist economy. Both the agencies and the local governments acting on behalf of the Central government can have their voice heard in decision-making involving urban fringe land use development. Although various agencies have emerged after the initiation of urban land reforms, the Central government can still exercise its influence over them. Recently, some scholars consider that government capacities have been embedded in social problems. This dissertation has adopted the theoretical framework for exploring Ithe social problems in China that have exerted their influence on China's urban fringe land use planning institutions. Ever since the land reform has initiated in China, urban sprawl in Nanjing has emerged in succession. As a result, the Nanjing municipal government has exerted more control over the urban fringe land use in order to curb the increasingly grave situation of urban sprawl. A great number of urban fringe land use institutions have been established including the institutions of urban fringe land use zoning, urban growth boundary, rural land balance system and rural land occupation tax. In the meantime, the Nanjing municipality has been confronted with serious social problems, in particular urban-rural disparity. I argued that this discrepancy would effect the planning institutions of urban fringe land use exactly. To substantiate my argument, I have selected three projects of urban fringe land development involving different agencies for discussion. They are Metro-J project (foreign-funded project receiving foreign direct investment), JHTID-S project (state-funded) and BASF-Y project (Chinese-foreign joint venture). Through an investigation into the land use planning permissions of the three projects mentioned above. I have found that agencies emerging in land development are always striving for their own interests. At the same time, the Nanjing Municipal Planning Bureau (NMPB) represents the Central government in making policies for urban fringe land use. The implementation of such policies like urban fringe land use zoning, urban growth boundary, arable land balance system and arable land occupation tax have created an extremely unfav
Download or read book Central Local Relations Land Development and Local Public Finance in China written by Hang Chow and published by Open Dissertation Press. This book was released on 2017-01-27 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This dissertation, "Central-local Relations, Land Development, and Local Public Finance in China: a Case Study of Guangdong Province" by Hang, Chow, 周恆, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Since the late 1990s, local governments in China have been relying heavily on land, which is a state-owned asset in urban area, to generate a significant amount of extra-budgetary revenue. Whilst this striking phenomenon has attracted numerous academic attentions, not many literatures shed the light on the process of central-local interactions. Adopting the procedural approach, this study examines the central-local fiscal and policy relations in the context of land finance. Taking the evidence from Guangdong province, this study understands the central-local relations as a process of policy interactions. After the central's attempt to recentralize the fiscal resources of local governments in the mid-1990s, localities have been facing fiscal stress, which led them to rely heavily on land conveyance income, an extra-budgetary revenue in order to complement the fiscal shortage in budgetary account. However, a series of socioeconomic consequences of local fervent land development have attracted frequent central interventions. The most noticeable example is the housing macro-regulations introduced in light of the soaring housing prices. The example of the housing macro-regulations rejected the classic centrist model of the central-local relations in China, which implies a zero-sum game. On the contrary, in face of an issue influencing the conflicting core interests of both actors, both the powers of central and local governments were intensified to the extent that no one single actor will totally win over another. The powers of the central and local governments were also mutually transformed in the course of the game. It is argued that local governments display a sense of resistance against the central interventions as they have strong interests in land and real estate industry after tax sharing reform. On the other hand, it is unlikely for the central government to give concession to local governments as the failure to alleviate the consequences of land finance may cause public discontent and even political crises. The possible outcome is either a "win-win" situation or loss for both actors. To avoid a negative-sum outcome, collaboration and compromise are recommended. The centre is urged to address the root problem of misalignment of revenue and expenditure and to institutionalize the relationship between the centre and subnational governments. DOI: 10.5353/th_b5217441 Subjects: Real estate development - China - Guangdong Sheng Central-local government relations - China - Guangdong Sheng Finance, Public - China - Guangdong Sheng
Download or read book Market Led Transactions and Illegal Land Use written by Lian Hongping and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 25 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: China's growing transactions of urban land-use rights (LURs) and the resultant rampant illegal land use since the 2000s have raised concerns about whether LURs are appropriately used to advance the public interest. In response to such concerns, beginning in the 2000s, the Chinese central government strongly urged local governments to adopt the market-led transaction (MLT) approach. Theoretically, we expect MLTs to enhance the competition and transparency of LUR decisions, but empirically existing loopholes in MLT adoption might undermine the effectiveness of market mechanisms. Using a multi-level analysis model with a two-level structure (time and province), this study empirically tests whether the MLT reform has reduced illegal land use by local governments, as the Chinese central government intended. Our results demonstrate that even after controlling for yearly and provincial variations, a 1 percent increase in the MLT adoption rate results in a 0.765 percent decrease in illegal land use cases and a 1.45 percent decrease in illegal land use area. The adoption of market-led transactions (MLTs) in the 2000s can be seen at least to have prevented an increase in illegal land use during a period of very rapid economic and urban development. The other notable finding is the inverse U-shaped trend of MLT adoption, where the year 2008 was a turning point. Before 2008, the MLT adoption rate continuously increased, reaching 43.4 percent in 2008; after that, the trend was reversed and the MLT adoption rate dropped to 27.0 percent in 2012. We suggest that the Chinese government should continue to utilize market mechanisms as a policy instrument to curb illegal land use and also try to close institutional loopholes to improve implementation.
Download or read book The Palgrave Handbook of Local Governance in Contemporary China written by Jianxing Yu and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 2018-12-25 with total page 644 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of local governance in China, and offers original analysis of key factors underpinning trends in this field drawing on the expertise of scholars both inside and outside China. It explores and analyzes the dynamic interaction and collaboration among multiple governmental and non-governmental actors and social sectors with an interest in the conduct of public affairs to address horizontal challenges faced by the local government, society, economy, and civil community and considers key issues such as governance in urban and rural areas, the impact of technology on governance and related issues of education, healthcare, environment and energy. As the result of a global and interdisciplinary collaboration of leading experts, this Handbook offers a cutting-edge insight into the characteristics, challenges and trends of local governance and emphasizes the promotion of good governance and democratic development in China.
Download or read book The Incompatabilities Between China s Current Land Management System and Town Planning System written by Liang He and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The relationships between the land management system and the town planning system play a crucial role in the process of land development, especially as Henan province is experiencing accelerated industrialization. In recent years, China has adjusted its land management system. The findings of the research show that the current land management system and town planning system of China are not compatible with each other when faced with the rapid industrialization of the core towns in Henan province. Furthermore, the incompatibilities between China's current land management system and town planning system have impeded the growth of the industrial scale and raised the costs of industrialization. There are two main reasons which cause the incompatibilities between these two systems, namely the contrasting characteristics between the town planning system and land management system and the different objectives between the local governments and the central government of China. The incompatibilities between China's town planning system and land management system are rooted in and shaped by the central-local relations.
Download or read book Assessing the Balance of Power in Central local Relations in China written by John A. Donaldson and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 6 Implementation: changing norms, issue-variance, and unending tugs of war -- 7 China's culture policy and the central-local relationship -- 8 Recentralization in China's social welfare regime -- 9 Central-local interactions in foreign affairs -- Index
Download or read book Making Land Fly written by Yuan Xiao (Ph. D.) and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This dissertation investigates China's land quota markets, a recent land policy innovation that virtually transfers urbanization permission from the countryside to cities. To circumvent national government's quota restrictions on converting agricultural land to urban land, local governments have created new land quotas by demolishing sparsely located farmhouses, and resettling peasants into high-density apartments. These quotas are then sold in new land quota markets to real estate developers. I find that China's land quota markets alter the traditional calculus of location and land use theory: the rural hinterlands have suddenly become valuable to urban land markets, particularly for industrial projects. In fact, the more distant a village is, the more likely it will be involved in land quota markets. Remoteness becomes a spatial advantage. These dramatic changes are the result of reconstructing property rights in land. The quotas traded on the market are a right to convert land use from rural to urban, separate from development rights to invest in specific properties. These institutional changes were initiated by recalibration of inter-governmental relationships: the Central Government delegates more autonomy to local governments and the municipality centralizes control over land from subordinating district and county governments. The implications of the new land quota markets are profound and many. The quota markets further draw land resources away from the rural areas to urban areas, and reinforces the imbalances between big and small cities. Since these institutional changes are driven by public finance at its core, the scale of our analysis needs to be regional rather than at the scale of the city. Lastly, quota markets have mixed welfare impact on different types of peasants. For peasants on the urban fringe, the scale of land taking is likely to increase, displacing more peasants than without the quota markets. For peasants in the deep rural areas, their housing conditions and access to infrastructure and public services are improved. However, their transition to urban lifestyle takes place before their transition to urban mode of production, therefore their long-term economic prospect is dismal.
Download or read book Rival Partners written by Jieh-min Wu and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2023-11-20 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Taiwan has been depicted as an island facing the incessant threat of forcible unification with the People’s Republic of China. Why, then, has Taiwan spent more than three decades pouring capital and talent into China? In award-winning Rival Partners, Wu Jieh-min follows the development of Taiwanese enterprises in China over twenty-five years and provides fresh insights. The geopolitical shift in Asia beginning in the 1970s and the global restructuring of value chains since the 1980s created strong incentives for Taiwanese entrepreneurs to rush into China despite high political risks and insecure property rights. Taiwanese investment, in conjunction with Hong Kong capital, laid the foundation for the world’s factory to flourish in the southern province of Guangdong, but official Chinese narratives play down Taiwan’s vital contribution. It is hard to imagine the Guangdong model without Taiwanese investment, and, without the Guangdong model, China’s rise could not have occurred. Going beyond the received wisdom of the “China miracle” and “Taiwan factor,” Wu delineates how Taiwanese business people, with the cooperation of local officials, ushered global capitalism into China. By partnering with its political archrival, Taiwan has benefited enormously, while helping to cultivate an economic superpower that increasingly exerts its influence around the world.
Download or read book The Problem of China written by Bertrand Russell and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 1922 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A European lately arrived in China, if he is of a receptive and reflective disposition, finds himself confronted with a number of very puzzling questions, for many of which the problems of Western Europe will not have prepared him. Russian problems, it is true, have important affinities with those of China, but they have also important differences; moreover they are decidedly less complex. Chinese problems, even if they affected no one outside China, would be of vast importance, since the Chinese are estimated to constitute about a quarter of the human race. In fact, however, all the world will be vitally affected by the development of Chinese affairs, which may well prove a decisive factor, for good or evil, during the next two centuries. This makes it important, to Europe and America almost as much as to Asia, that there should be an intelligent understanding of the questions raised by China, even if, as yet, definite answers are difficult to give.
