Consolidating authoritarianism with limited democratic governance

An academic article using the case study of participatory budgeting reforms in Wenling, China to discuss the reality and limitations of democratic reform in an authoritarian regime.

The participatory budgeting (PB) reform in Wenling, Zhejiang Province has some democratic implications, but it is still limited under China's current political system and cannot change the authoritarian political order. Why would such a democratic reform be carried out in an authoritarian regime? This paper argues that Wenling's PB was a policy reform that central government allowed to develop not to address an urgent public governance problem, but rather to help restrain the power of grassroots officials and help stabilize authoritarian rule.

Source: Airiti Library, China
Author information and contact: Szu-chien Hsu, Chien-chung Wu
Language: Chinese

Year of publication: 2018