The Internal Logic Of River Chief System Policy Innovation Diffusion

With the rapid development of the socialist modernization process in our country,the contradiction between population and resources,economy and environment,fairness and efficiency has become increasingly acute.The awareness of right and power is c onstantly awakening,and the demand for public goods and public services provided b y the government is also increasing.Local governments actively carry out reforms and innovations and constantly update their governance concepts and governance tools.Lo cal government innovation has made outstanding contributions in promoting the level o f democracy,government performance,and political legitimacy,and has become an im portant power and breakthrough in promoting social good governance and political pro gress.Studying the logic of the policy innovation diffusion in our country can provide experience guidance on how to improve the innovation capability of our government.It is crucial to the modernization of our governance system and governance capability.This article is based on the sample of the River Chief System policy innovation diffusion from 2007 to 2017.Through field research,we have mastered first-hand info rmation,collected relevant policy information from major government websites,and co mprehensively grasped the picture of the innovation and diffusion of the “River Chief System” policy in the past decade.Through literature research methods,based on a th orough understanding of the relevant research results of China and the West,we const ructed a theoretical analysis framework for the innovation diffusion of local governme nts in China.Present in detail the diffusion process of River Chief System innovation in stages,according to the time series.Under the existing theoretical framework,this paper analyzes the driving factors of River Chief System policy innovation diffusion fr om three aspects,social issues,the concern of the superior and the central governmen t,and the nature of the policy itself.Driving factors play a role through diffusion me chanisms.Under the learning-based policy diffusion,social issues,geographical proximi ty,policy nature,and policies entrepreneurs are significant driving factors.The main d iffusion paths are inter-provincial diffusion and learning-based regional diffusion.Underthe imitation-based policy diffusion,the comparative advantage of the policy image in the policy nature plays a major driving role.The main diffusion path is imitation-bas ed regional diffusion.Under the competitive-based policy diffusion,the geographical pr oximity and the concern of superior and the central government play an important rol e.The main diffusion path is competitive-based regional diffusion.Under the coercionbased policy diffusion,the superior and the central government are important driving f orces.The main diffusion path is top-down level diffusion.Through the above analysi s,this paper summed up the policy innovation diffusion model of River Chief System:central government guidance-local government innovation-spontaneous diffusion-unified regulation.Finally,this paper analyzes the problems existing in River Chief System po licy innovation diffusion,and proposes countermeasures.We hope to provide useful r eference for the sound development of local government innovation in the future.