Local Politics and Social Policy in China
Let Some Get Healthy First

Shows how local actors shape social policy in China through distinct priorities and different approaches to governing.

Kerry E. Ratigan (Author)

9781009066020, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 21 March 2024

244 pages
22.9 x 15.1 x 1.5 cm, 0.36 kg

'… an important contribution to the literature on welfare politics and central-local relations in China.' Jiwei Qian, Pacific Affairs

Due to uneven economic reforms, Chinese provinces have developed distinct approaches to governing that impact social policy priorities and policy implementation. Ratigan shows how coastal provinces tended to prioritize health and education, and developed a pragmatic policy style, which fostered innovation and professionalism in policy implementation. Meanwhile, inland provinces tended to prioritize targeted poverty alleviation and affordable housing, while taking a paternalist, top-down approach to implementation. This book provides a quantitative analysis of provincial social policy spending in the 2000s and qualitative case studies of provinces with divergent approaches to social policy. It highlights healthcare, but also draws on illustrative examples from poverty alleviation, education, and housing policy. By showing the importance of local actors in shaping social policy implementation, this book will appeal to scholars and advanced students of Chinese politics, comparative welfare studies, and comparative politics.

1. Introduction
2. China's national health system: ideological oscillations and incomplete reform
3. Disaggregating authoritarian governance: provincial policy styles
4. The pragmatist policy style
5. The paternalist policy style
6. The mixed policy style
7. Center–local relations, pandemic politics, and local policy styles in comparative perspective
References.

Subject Areas: Constitution: government & the state [JPHC]