China's Hybrid Adaptive Bureaucracy: The Case of the 863 Program for Science and Technology. Issue 3 (27th September 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhi, Qiang; Pearson, Margaret M.
• Is Part Of: Governance. Volume 30:Issue 3(2017)
• Page Start: 407
• Page End: 424
• Publication Date: 2016-09-27
• Subjects: Administrative agencies -- Periodicals; Civil service -- Periodicals; Public administration -- Periodicals; Policy sciences -- Periodicals; 350
• DOI: 10.1111/gove.12245
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0952-1895

Abstract

Abstract : Portrayals of China's bureaucratic behavior tend to emphasize either streamlined central control via top‐down directives emanating from a Leninist system, or a highly fragmented organization characterized by continuous horizontal bargaining. While both views have merit, they miss important but little‐recognized dynamics of Chinese bureaucratic behavior. Examination of the 30‐year evolution of a single organization, China's 863 Program, allows us a unique look inside the "black box" of decision making. First, we highlight a largely unrecognized mechanism of top‐down control: a signal‐response process that fosters substantial uncertainty for officials in the system. Second, our case highlights a circumstance in which reformers made radical moves—deployed as a "band‐aid" layer of rational‐instrumentalism—to meet a perceived external security threat. These moves demonstrate efforts to incorporate Weberian norms, and suggest sources of dynamism and learning in a "hybrid adaptive" bureaucracy.