An Empirical Analysis Of Delegates To Local People's Congress Promoting The Policy Agenda Setting

Under the strong drive of reform and opening-up,the differentiation of traditional interest structures,the rise of individual rights consciousness,and the increase in the openness of public policy processes make different interest-oriented social groups change status from “spectator” to “participant” in the policy agenda setting.In this process,the establishment and improvement of social and plural political input channels has always been an important issue of promoting interactions between the political system and environment.The delegates to the People's Congress take the responsibilities for responding to social concerns and supervising government work.They not only have the institutional opportunities to push public opinion into the policy agenda,but also should promote public participation in the public policy agenda setting.Therefore,this research focuses on whether delegates can promote the policy agenda setting and how to promote the policy agenda setting in real political life.This research adopts the literature research method,case study method and interview method.Firstly,this research discusses the institutional space for delegates to promote the policy agenda setting from three aspects: legal basis,power relations and information sources.Secondly,this research takes the delegates of M district in Shanghai as a case to show how delegates promote the policy agenda setting from three aspects: what is the mode of performing duties,how to form these modes and how these modes can operate.Through the research,the author finds that although delegates are faced with the situation that there is limited institutional space to promote the policy agenda setting on the whole,they can still promote the policy agenda setting and have different modes of performing duties.Based on the differences in the action conditions of delegates,that is,the motivation,resources,and the focus of performing duties,the research distinguishes three modes that delegates promote the policy agenda setting.Under the “accommodation mode,” the delegates that is influenced by the external forces will express the will of the public,and make efforts to influence problem stream,thus to improve the visibility of people's demands and promote the government's attention to the problems.Under the “negotiation mode,” the delegates will actively use their resources to provide policy proposals,and make efforts to influence policy stream,thus to provide intellectual support for government policy programs and to promote the government's adoption of public opinion.Under the “urge mode,” the delegates that were stimulated by supervisory consciousness will actively put pressure on the government,which means they further supervise the government work,and make efforts to influence political stream,thus to urge the government to change its attitude towards public opinion.Through the further research,the author finds that three modes of delegates' performing duties can both promote the policy agenda setting and the effective interactions between the public and its government.While the formation of these modes of performing duties is supported by the delegate's willingness of carrying out their duties,the local people's Congress system to explore its autonomy,and the action strategies of delegates to perform their duties.Therefore,to improve the performance of delegates in promoting the policy agenda setting,we should not only consider the influence of delegate's own factors,but also examine the driving effect of the institutional innovation of the local people's congress.In addition,the performing activities of delegates to promote the policy agenda setting are still “fragmented.” which needs to integrate the three modes of performing their duties to form a systematic performing thinking and action,so as to better promote the policy agenda setting and respond to social concerns.