time: 15:00-17:00, nov.26th , 2013
venue: meeting room 302, school of public policy and management
speaker: dr. ling chen, associate professor of school of public policy and management, tsinghua university
commentator: prof. barry naughton, professor of school of international relations & pacific studies, university of california, san diego
abstract: this study examines the operational system of china’s top level leadership small groups from the standpoint of china’s national governance system and policy process. using the two cases of the central finance and economics leadership small group and the state council science technology and education leadership small group, we find that top level leadership small groups are bodies through which top politicians and administrators carry out collective policy-making. their functional position and operational mechanism are a kind of embedded, subordinated institution. the leadership small groups are formally embedded in the overall national organizational structure and operational system, and they create new administrative procedures and modes of accountability, in order to conform to the governance of specific designated items. the leadership small group is an implementation system that displays adaptive governance and consensus-type policy-making. its implementation system goes through a series of institutionalized and structured methods to reach a policy consensus.