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

Feng Chen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

5 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 languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)180-192
Number of pages13
JournalProblems of Post-Communism
Volume67
Issue number2
Early online date21 May 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 3 Mar 2020

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Sociology and Political Science

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