Interlaced Hierarchy And Incomplete Network:the Dilemma Of The Relationship Between Cities And Counties In The Reform Of Province Administrating Counties Directly

Since the foundation of the People's Republic of China,the relationship between cities and counties is in constantly changing and adjusting.On the early days,the cities and counties were governed separately by the province and then the city governing county system was established.Nowadays,the reform of province administrating counties directly is in progress in some areas of China.We can see that every adjustment of the executive level is to better adapt to the development of the economy and society.Up to now,there are totally 24 provinces have carried out the reform of province administrating counties directly and this reform is in its latter period.However,the reform entered the dilemma which is called the interlaced hierarchy as the reform is incomplete as well as the lack of support from the laws and policies.This dilemma contains four main aspects which can be expressed as the interlaced managing subjects,the interlaced responsibilities,rights and benefits,the interlaced supporting power and finally the interlaced construction of the system.In order to solve all the problems mentioned above as well as achieving the coordinated development of the cities and counties,we need to look for new methods.At the same time,as the relationship of the government,market and society keeps changing and adjusting,there is a evolution of the theory in the public administration fields:from the hierarchy to the network governance.The network governance has its own characters.They are diversified governing subjects,networked governing structure,based on the trust mechanism and supported by the coordination and safeguard mechanism.To accomplish the network governance in regional governance field,there are six necessary prerequisites:positive governing subjects,networked governing structure,good relationship of trust,perfect coordination mechanism,sound safeguard mechanism and strong network managing abilities of the government.However,as the network governance is still on researching,the prerequisites to achieve it in regional governance area are deficient,the network is incomplete:a lack of positive governing subjects,a lack of networked governing structure,bad trusts between cities and counties,imperfect coordination mechanism,unsound safeguard mechanism and weak network managing abilities of the government.Thus,in order to perfect the network and build the harmonious relationship between cities and counties,we need to reconstruct the relationship between cities and counties based on the network governance theory.There are six main measures:clarifying the responsibilities,rights and benefits relationship between cities and counties,building the networked structure in which all subjects can negotiate equally,cultivating trusts between cities and counties,establishing perfect coordination mechanism,constructing sound safeguard mechanism,improving the network managing capabilities of the government.