Citizen Participation and Political Efficacy in Urban China

• In Event: Governing Civic Engagement in China

Abstract

China’s current political system does not offer its citizens formal representation systems such as elections, but in practice there are multiple channels of political influence available for Chinese citizens. There are citizen-initiated venues of voicing political opinion such as Internet forums, state-initiated venues such as local elections and various deliberative mechanisms, and community organizations such as neighborhood committees. These various citizen participation models have a transformative effect on the state-society relations in China.

This study proposes to demonstrate the impact of participation on political efficacy in urban China. Through local political networks that emerge over the period of sustained participation in one or more mechanisms, the city residents develop political efficacy. The proposed research is an ongoing study and it is composed of two parts: survey data that measures the sense of political efficacy of individual participants, and semi-structured interviews that provide the data about the political networks in each city.

Since urban citizenship is not based on primary ties, political activism needs to be constructed through mostly emerging networks. Chinese cities face the most immediate effects of socio-economic policy changes such as property rights and urban regeneration. This study will be built on case studies to be conducted in six Chinese cities demonstrating different socio-economic and demographic patterns, namely Guiyang, Wuhan, Qingdao, Lanzhou, Hangzhou, and Changchun.

Author

• Ceren Ergenc, Middle East Technical University