Why Is The Burden Of The Grassroots Getting Heavier And Heavier

The grassroots is the last kilometer of the implementation of China’s central decisions and deployments,is the foundation and frontier of China’s governance,and the good or bad governance of the grassroots is related to the overall situation of China’ s development.However,the issue of overburdened grassroots is increasingly becoming a key challenge in the process of effective grassroots governance,overburdening the grassroots will not only increase the administrative costs of the grassroots and affect the work energy of grassroots staff,but also reduce the effectiveness of grassroots governance.Therefore,it is necessary to analyse the problem in depth and clarify the reasons behind its generation,in the hope that it can provide some theoretical reference value in reducing the burden of the grassroots and improving the effectiveness of grassroots governance.First,the literature research method is used to engage in academic dialogue with existing research findings and to sort out the prevailing explanatory perspectives on the causes of the grassroots burden problem.Second,the concept and boundaries of the grassroots burden are defined.Thirdly,this thesis takes into account the current context of the times and the current situation of governance,and concludes that the grassroots in China is currently facing three major contradictions: " the complexity of the government environment and the standardisation of organisational operations","the value concept of ’bottom-up’ and the logic of ’top-up’ governance",and "digital empowerment and digital burden increase".In a certain sense,the problem of increasing burden at the grassroots level is closely related to this problem.In addition,this thesis attempts to construct an explanatory framework of "task-institution-technology" from three dimensions: task,institution,and technology,and to further explore the mechanisms underlying the increasing burden of the grassroots.On this basis,this thesis first puts forward three basic hypotheses: Firstly,the "all-center" task faced by the grassroots government under the dual guidance of unlimited expansion of government functions and the political power of downward pressure is one of the important factors leading to the increasingly heavy burden of the grassroots.Second,under the combined effect of the pressure-based system and the strong negative incentive system,a series of government activities at all levels around "claiming credit" and "avoiding responsibility" will give rise to a mountain of paperwork and heavy paperwork at the grassroots level,increasing the burden on the grassroots.Third,the enhanced institutional inertia and technology-absorbing governance derived from the process of digital technology-enabled government governance can further increase the burden on the grassroots.Accordingly,this thesis examines the explanatory power and fit of the theoretical framework through research and in-depth interviews in town A of County X.It shows that the grassroots government is passively,actively,and invisibly assuming and creating grassroots burdens under the combined effects of the "all-center" task environment,the strong negative incentive system,and the alienation of digital technology goals.Specifically,firstly,under the dual guidance of unlimited expansion of government functions and downward pressure of political power,grassroots governments will passively bear more and more grassroots burdens;secondly,the strong negative incentive mechanism will stimulate two-way avoidance of responsibilities among governments at all levels,and in the process of claiming credit and avoiding responsibilities,grassroots governments will actively generate more grassroots burdens;thirdly,in the process of digital application,whether in the process of task deployment,task implementation or result assessment,there will be a situation of "governance caught in technology".Thirdly,in the process of digital application,whether it is the deployment of tasks,the implementation of tasks,or the assessment of results,there will be a situation where "governance is caught in technology".