Patterns and Paradoxes of Urban Governance in the Xi Jinping Era

• In Event: Changing Governance Models in China

Abstract

China’s major cities are so large in both land area and population that much of the real action of urban development and governance occurs in their territorial subunits—urban districts and special zones. Yet, notwithstanding a wealth of research on Chinese cities, scholars still know relatively little about the personnel and administrative arrangements of urban subunits and how these arrangements have evolved in the transformative period since Xi Jinping’s rise to power. Has the governance of urban subunits mirrored larger trends during the Xi era, with increasing centralization, standardization, and party dominance? Or have idiosyncrasies of district- and zone-level governance persisted? To address these questions, I explore how patterns of personnel management in China’s cities have changed since 2012, drawing on an original dataset of over 800 unique official postings of district and zone leaders from six major Chinese cities. Analysis of officials’ backgrounds, appointments, and rotations reveals trends of centralization and standardization over time, but also surprising differences in the management approaches of different cities—differences that point to larger tensions in the urban governance model of the Xi leadership.

Author

• Kyle Alan Jaros, University of Notre Dame