Power Relations Of Chinese Local Government Public Budget Reform Under The Network Perspective

Influence by the need of its own management, the pressure of domestic public opinions, and international demonstration effect etc, the Chinese Government launched the "top-down" public budget reform in the year1999. After more than ten years of exploration, on the one hand, the local governments have already become the main drivers and practitioners of the reform; On the other hand, with the reform being pushed forward, the recognition of the essence of the budget reform is also increasingly deepen. The practice of the public budget reform shows that the study of public budget should see through the appearance of economic rationality and management technology to reveal its political implications. This paper analyzed the changes of power structure and relation network among participants of the budget process before and after the reform, and then discussed the influence changes on the participants’ decision-making modes and even the outcome of the budget by taking the public budget reform in Shanghai Minhang District as an example and the perspective of participants in the budget process. The research shows that China’s local governments’ public budget reform could and have already changed the power structure and relation network among the budget process participants, and led to the changes of the participants’decision-making mode, then affects the budget outcome. From the view of budget reform politics, this means that the public budget reform in China has touched some aspects of the political process. And the implied political meaning is also very positive.