Wang, Hua (2017) Origin and Network: Examining the Influence of Non- Local Chambers of Commerce in the Chinese Local Policy Process
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Wang, Hua (2017) Origin and network: examining the influence of non- local chambers of commerce in the Chinese local policy process. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/8249/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten:Theses http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Origin and Network: Examining the Influence of Non-local Chambers of Commerce in the Chinese Local Policy Process Hua Wang MA (Hons), MSc Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Politics) College of Social Sciences School of Social and Political Sciences University of Glasgow July 2016 Abstract China’s transition from planned economy to market economy (economic liberalization) has catalyzed the private sector’s emergence and growth, as well as given birth to new forms of business associations within the private sector, such as Non-local Chambers of Commerce (NCCs, hereafter). NCCs emerged from mid-1990s, and have proliferated rapidly across China’s localities and industries. Unlike traditional official business associations, NCCs have significantly participated in local governance and demonstrated new types of state-society relations. However, they have not yet reached the attention of scholarly researchers, and have been understudied within and outside of China. At the same time, political scientists working on policy processes have begun to include China as a case to enrich their theory, but find it hard to adapt established models to China’s policymaking system. Research on the Chinese policy process have gone from elite politics in the 1950-1960s, to “fragmented authoritarianism” in the 1970-1980s, then to “fragmented authoritarianism 2.0” after 2000. During the evolution of these theories, it has been noticed that more and more non-bureaucratic actors have been involved into the policymaking process if not being the prominent actors. There have been studies on “policy entrepreneur”, environmental NGOs, international NGOs, Chinese think-tanks and different forms of business lobbying. However, within the spectrum of business lobbying, there is a gap in understanding business associations’ influence in policy processes, especially the new type of so claimed “grass-roots” business associations. This thesis sheds lights on this new type of private sector business association - NCCs and their influence in the local urban policy process. NCCs have been widely involved in local governance and political engagement. However, their political participation shows great variation due to differences in regions, organizational forms, industries and policy spheres. So the question of what lead to the variation of NCCs’ policy influence has become the highlights of this research project. By using the empirical materials from participant observation and interviews, this thesis aims to answer two main questions: How did NCCs influence the local policy process and what explains the difference in their policy influence? In this thesis, I develop a typology for NCCs by using the dimensions of “origins” and “networks”. Thus all the NCCs have been categorized into four types: “Dependent NCCs”, “Independent NCCs”, “Coupling NCCs” and “Decoupling NCCs”. Through in-depth case analysis, I argue that NCCs’ networks and their ability to mobilize resources within their 2 networks determine their policy impact. In terms of NCCs’ network orientation, the state networks of NCCs directly affect their access to policy lobbying, while the business networks directly affect the resources for their lobbying, thus determine NCCs’ lobbying capacity in the local policy process. In terms of NCCs’ network strategy, network span influences policy making while network intensity influences policy implementations. To be specific, NCCs with network span strategy could influence more general policy agendas and policy spheres, while NCCs with network intensity strategy could exert more influence in specific policies especially in the policy implementation stage. 3 Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... 2 List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. 8 List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... 8 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... 9 Author’s Declaration ............................................................................................................... 11 Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................ 12 Chapter 1 Introduction and literature review ............................................................... 13 1.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 13 1.2 Debate on business associations’ role in state-society relations ............................... 16 1.3 Studies of the Chinese policy process .................................................................................. 19 1.4 Policy process in the Chinese local context ....................................................................... 22 1.5 External actors’ influence in the local policy process .................................................... 25 1.5.1 Business lobbying ............................................................................................................................... 25 1.5.2 Environmental NGO’s influence on policy change ................................................................ 27 1.5.3 Think-tanks and experts’ influence on the policy process ................................................ 29 1.5.4 Business associations’ influence in local politics ................................................................... 29 1.5.5 Summary andcomments .................................................................................................................. 32 1.6 Introducing the research object: Non-local Chambers of Commerce (NCCs) ........ 33 1.7 Research questions and arguments ..................................................................................... 36 NCCs’ establishment initiatives ................................................................................................................ 37 NCCs’ network orientation ........................................................................................................................... 38 NCCs’ network strategy ............................................................................................................................... 38 Argument of the thesis................................................................................................................................. 39 1.8 Methodology ................................................................................................................................. 40 1.9 Chapter outline ............................................................................................................................ 42 Chapter 2 NCCs in China: emergence, development and political engagement . 44 2.1 NCCs’ emergence in the 1990s ................................................................................................ 45 2.2 NCCs’ development in China .................................................................................................... 49 2.2.1 Wenzhou NCCs in China ................................................................................................................... 52 2.2.2 NCCs in Tianjin ..................................................................................................................................... 58 2.2.3 NCCs in Hangzhou .............................................................................................................................. 63 2.2.4 Comparison of NCCs in Tianjin and Hangzhou ....................................................................... 66 2.2.5 Preliminary explanations of NCCs’ regional variations ...................................................... 66 4 2.3 NCCs’ characteristics and features ........................................................................................ 68 2.4 Private sectors’ political engagement .................................................................................. 70 2.4.1 As representatives in political organizations .......................................................................... 71 2.4.2 Business lobbying in China ............................................................................................................. 72 2.4.3 Joining in or setting up business associations .......................................................................