Chinese Journal of Sociology ›› 2017, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (3): 215-241.

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Policy Implement Cost and Occurring Mechanism of Bargaining among the Chinese Governmental Hierarchy: Based on Analysis Example of Prohibition of Grazing in Sidong County

FENG Meng   

  1. Department of Sociology, Shanghai Normal University
  • Online:2017-05-20 Published:2017-05-20

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Abstract:

Bargaining is a significant form of interaction for the Chinese government. Therefore the mechanism of bargaining is suggested as a representative operational model to understand the behaviors of local governments in the hierarchical system of government. The paper describes in detail several rounds of bargaining between superior and subordinate government officials in the process of implementing the prohibition of grazing in Sidong County. The policy was made at the county level. Township-level governments choose to bargain with their superior due to the difficulty of implementation in the early stages,and then failed. Strict implementation led to frequent conflicts between local government and peasants. The township-level instantly turned to bargaining with the county-level government,and used a confrontational strategy to successfully obtain relatively more freedom for implementation. From a theoretical perspective,this paper uses the analysis framework for implementation costa to illustrate the functioning mechanism of bargaining behavior. The different combinations of implementation costs cause township-level governments to choose or adjust to different methods. The high cost of implementation processes leave township level government to use bargaining as the only reasonable method of implementation. Subordinate governments choose bargaining again when facing strict implementation orders from superiors,and difficult implementation conditions from the public. Bargaining is also their only choice when they cannot achieve the target,although they seek to implement policies to the utmost extent. The process of bargaining indicates that,township level governments improve bargaining ability relative to strict requirements for implementation of policy and intensifying social conflicts. The essential features of bargaining are:no deadlock implementation,wagging agreement point,alternative occurrence between short-run equilibrium and bargaining in policy implementation,and bargaining among the Chinese governmental hierarchy. From the institutional point of view,the implementation of new policies create opportunities for bargaining,and makes easier bargaining between superior and subordinate governments.

Key words: policy implementation, agreement point, bargaining, implement cost, grassroots government