The Pattern Of State-Led Social Governance In Contemporary China And Its Interpretation

Since the inception of the new century, the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government have released a series of policies to help solve social problems, alleviate social conflicts and promote social justice, marking China’s entry into a new era of development when equal importance is attached to economic and social progress. Social governance and development has progressively become the core policy issue in China today. At the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in November 2013, the goals of "enhancing the modernization of the state governance system and governance capability" and "promoting institutional innovation in the social sphere and accelerating the formation of a scientific and effective social governance mechanism", indicating not only a fundamental change in the way our Party and government address social problems to the reviews of the issues concerning social development and social governance from the perspective of state governance but also a transformation in governing concepts and models at the new developmental stage. This paper wants to discuss that during the process of social progress, what changes have occurred in social governance, and how to delineate and understand the recent development and complexity of social governance in contemporary China?Currently, State-Led social governance is the key feature in the development of social governance in contemporary China. The formation of social governance model relies largely on the transformation of the role of the state and the social governance reform of the government. It can be noted that the state still plays a dominant role in social governance in contemporary China. It is due to the fact that the state has not been completely free from the intention of "social control"-rather, this intention appears to be more concealing and strategic. It will thus follow that there are limits to innovation practices, or an internal "tense" relationship between the state and society.Based on the existing researches, this paper puts forward the analysis framework on institutional bases--self-limiting adaptability in an attempt to understand the transformation and development logic of social governance in contemporary China. Recent decades have witnessed strong movements towards decentralization. The research suggests that the institutional advantageous position of central government played an important role in helping maintain control and motivation over local behavior. That is central government uses the hierarchical operation of social governance, legalized informal institution, and horizontal accountability to guide and control local behavior. To respond to central government, local governments need to balance multiple roles between agent, self-interest actor and service-oriented actor which lead to selective policy implementation during the process of the development of social governance in China. Eventually, mutually acceptable outcomes for both the center and localities have reached. In fact, interest differences among the interior of bureaucracy make social governance possible in some capacity. By adopting the analytic strategy of disaggregating the state and society to better understand that the state’s intention is not only controlling the society but also leading society development through institutionalized and strategic policy orientation. Furthermore, under the current institutional environment and the complicated multi-level interactions between the state and society, social organizations take adaptive strategies which not only to comply with the state but also to expand their own resources and get development opportunities which make the social organizations’ autonomy production. It explains the strength and long-term viability of social actors.However, state-led governance implies the logic that the foundation of social governance is society not state. The process of from social control to social governance depends on the institutionalization of social governance. This paper explains how the central-local relations influence the vertical diffusion process. The research suggests that central government’s support and recognition of governance innovations, favourable political and economic local conditions and local governments’ responsible for the public needs are the key factors which affect the process of vertical diffusion. Moreover, the development of social governance is a systematic reform which including the idea of fairness and justice, social basis construction, the administrative and financial reform, social policy reform and rule of law.Findings reveal that if social governance is not merely labeled as a strategy and political tool in response to social issues, the innovation of social governance shall be perceived as the substantial progress. China is endeavoring to attract a diversity of social powers to participate in social governance via institutional improvement and governance reform, and to respond to the social requirements so as to promote its governing ability and performance. Society is also constantly influencing the development of state institutions during the course of its own perfection. While the state will continue to hold a predominant role in the future development of China’s social governance, the ultimate driving force, however, comes from society. The progress of future Chinese social governance is a dynamic process which emphasizes the relative improvement of the conditions of social governance. The state is exploring institutional innovation and attracting more participation of social powers, and the accumulation of positive factors in social governance will promote the transformation and development of social governance in contemporary China.