Abstract

A key feature of Chinese governance is the strong and strategic engagement of a very powerful central government in local policy implementation capacity building. Employing data from local collaborative cross- jurisdictional infrastructure projects, this research develops a theoretical explanation for a key question regarding the Chinese governance model: under what policy circumstances does the central government engage in local policy implementation capacity building? The results reveal that a local policy implementation obstacle becomes a salient candidate for central intervention when local political disputes accumulate to indicate a significant outcome for the engagement. This insight, through further testing and refinement, can be used to develop a comprehensive explanation of the Chinese government's capacity building process for policy implementation.

Citation

Wang, X., Li, J., Yuan, Z., & Xu, J. (2025). Chinese central government intervention in local policy capacity building: When and why. China Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal on Greater China, *25*(1), 1-41, https://webofscience.clarivate.cn/wos/woscc/full-record/WOS:001447716700001.