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"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"--
List of contents
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.
About the author
Kerry Ratigan is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Amherst College. She has published articles in journals including World Development, The China Quarterly, International Political Science Review, and Studies in Comparative International Development, among others.
Summary
Ratigan shows how distinct ways of governing in Chinese provinces shaped social policy priorities and implementation at the beginning of the 21st century. With a focus on health policy in China, this book also provides comparative examples from education, poverty alleviation, and housing policy.
