Local State Adhocracy: Infrastructural Power and Stability Maintenance in Grassroots China

Feng Chen

doi:10.1080/10758216.2019.1605829

Local State Adhocracy: Infrastructural Power and Stability Maintenance in Grassroots China

Feng Chen^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › peer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Previous studies on state’s infrastructural power assume that the state is composed of formal bureaucratic and coercive institutions. This study explores a new format of infrastructural power, termed the “local state adhocracy,” by using China’s stability maintenance apparatuses as a case. Configured through the state’s reordering of institutional and social resources but operating in rather flexible and impromptus manners, the local state adhocracy is rooted in the CCP’s political tradition of deploying informal and expedient organizations for policy implementation in a less institutionalized context. It generates new capability of the state but also weakens the rule of law and institutionalization.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	180-192
Number of pages	13
Journal	Problems of Post-Communism
Volume	67
Issue number	2
Early online date	21 May 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2019.1605829
Publication status	Published - 3 Mar 2020

Scopus Subject Areas

Sociology and Political Science

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1080/10758216.2019.1605829

Cite this

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title = "Local State Adhocracy: Infrastructural Power and Stability Maintenance in Grassroots China",

abstract = "Previous studies on state{\textquoteright}s infrastructural power assume that the state is composed of formal bureaucratic and coercive institutions. This study explores a new format of infrastructural power, termed the “local state adhocracy,” by using China{\textquoteright}s stability maintenance apparatuses as a case. Configured through the state{\textquoteright}s reordering of institutional and social resources but operating in rather flexible and impromptus manners, the local state adhocracy is rooted in the CCP{\textquoteright}s political tradition of deploying informal and expedient organizations for policy implementation in a less institutionalized context. It generates new capability of the state but also weakens the rule of law and institutionalization.",

author = "Feng Chen",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the General Research Funds (No.12645816), Research Grants Council, Hong Kong. I am grateful to the Research Grants Council, Hong Kong, and to Zhuang Wenjia, Chen Yongxin, and Wu Ziqi for their kind assistance to my fieldwork in Guangdong.",

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N2 - Previous studies on state’s infrastructural power assume that the state is composed of formal bureaucratic and coercive institutions. This study explores a new format of infrastructural power, termed the “local state adhocracy,” by using China’s stability maintenance apparatuses as a case. Configured through the state’s reordering of institutional and social resources but operating in rather flexible and impromptus manners, the local state adhocracy is rooted in the CCP’s political tradition of deploying informal and expedient organizations for policy implementation in a less institutionalized context. It generates new capability of the state but also weakens the rule of law and institutionalization.

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Local State Adhocracy: Infrastructural Power and Stability Maintenance in Grassroots China

Abstract

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UN SDGs

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