The durability of governance reform: A two-wave audit of notice and comment policymaking in China

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Balla, Steven J.; Xie, Zhoudan
• 署名单位: George Washington University
• 刊物名称: REGULATION & GOVERNANCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1748-5983
• DOI: 10.1111/rego.12477
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 549-569
• 关键词: DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY; VILLAGE ELECTIONS; innovations; diffusion; responsiveness; consultation; models; state

摘要

The notice and comment process, in which government organizations make public draft laws and regulations and solicit feedback on these proposals, is a prominent governance reform in contemporary China. This article examines the durability of notice and comment policymaking by conducting a pair of audits of the practices of dozens of central government ministries and provincial governments. There are a number of reasons to expect that it is difficult to sustain governance reforms in China. Nevertheless, the audits-which the authors carried out in 2014 and 2021-demonstrate that, subject to a number of constraints, notice and comment policymaking was routinely implemented by government organizations throughout the period under analysis. Although the notice and comment process is a durable governance reform, additional research is needed before it can be concluded that the procedure brings more than a veneer of transparency to Chinese policymaking.