The Structural Evolution Of Government Functions In China

the change of China's government functions is deemed a modern issue of knowledge.This thesis studied the structural evolution of China's government functions on the basis of Punctuated-Equilibrium Theory.The research finds that the time before and after Reform and Opening-up is the period of policy equilibrium of China's government functions,during which time China's government functions present a general characteristic of modest change or incrementalism,and a single supporting policy image on the one hand,and the time of enactment of Reform and Opening-up is the period of policy punctuations,during which time China's government functions show a significant number of radical changes and departures from the past and competing policy images on the other.Problem structures,attentions,bounded rationality and political institutions,are four important elements of'explaining the evolutionary characteristics of China's government functions.The period of policy stasis is the politics of equilibrium.A widely accepted supporting image means relatively clear problem structures for decision-makers,and it is usually associated with a successful policy monopoly.Decision-makers with bounded rationality tend to present relatively stable attention allocations and decision-making preferences during the period.Because of the insulated and conservative nature of authoritarian regime in China,lock-in and path dependency can be found in the processes of policymaking.Meanwhile,institutions and norms in Chinese political systems as well,act as agenda accesses to dampen departures from both intra-and inter-political system.And then,the entire political system shifts from the past to a new institutional equilibrium.The period of policy punctuations is the politics of punctuation.Competing policy images mean new issue definitions,new ideas,new participants,and a successful policy monopoly is broken up,or collapsed.Positive feedback occurs at this time.Political actors with bounded rationality,however,are faced with the bottleneck of attention,and new issues become the winner in the competition for attention.With a window of opportunity opening,reformers with strategic views in China catch the transient opportunity agilely,and new issue definitions and new ideas are packaged and sold to policy venues.Finally,a new agenda,namely Reform and Opening-up,is set and created in the processes of policymaking in China.