Mutual Promotion And Joint Governance: Urban Social Development In Government-led State

This dissertation, under the theme of government-led urban social development, probes into astrategic action plan by Xiamen’s Siming District-"Together to Create a Beautiful Xiamen". Taking the theoretical framework of "state-society" relations, this dissertation attempts to address the research questions behindthis action plan by exploring its mechanism and implementation process; in order to demonstrate progress and new experience of urban governance, as well as to elaborate and explain its space, conditions, value and related restrictions.This case study aims at contributing to the theoretical discussion of new paths of urban development in government-led state, as well as highlighting China’s unique experience.The first chapterdraws attention to the background of this strategic action plan. The second chapter followed focuses on the role of the local governmentand its initiatives in this plan, depicting the background of governmental reforms and market-oriented policies. The third chapter investigates the role of the citizens by presenting and analyzingfour types of public participation, namely compelled participation, developed participation, requested participation and interactive participation. In the fourth chapter, this dissertation discusses the joint efforts ofdecentralized communities-that is to achieve autonomy of local communities through reconstruction of governance units, to strengthen the effective participation of the public by developing and supporting a wide range of social organizations in terms of their levels and types, to eventually advance the emergence and development of self-governancefor both citizens and the public. In the fifth chapter, further discussion on the experience of this action plan and its delimitation of the scope of application are presented, as well as the conclusion of the study.This dissertationconcluded, as follows, that the strategic action plan of "Together to Create a Beautiful Xiamen" stands out as an example for the Chinese perspective of urbandevelopment in government-led countries. With regards to the content, the administration of the action plan is to achieve new progress based on the formal social governance. With regard to the process, this action requires the participation of society withpromotion from the government. The governmentsafeguards the systems and createsforward-looking atmosphere for reforms by planning news policies, issuing new documents, providing start-up capital and launching advocative campaigns. Meanwhile, the government decentralizes its rights, vitalizes social participation, and thus, accelerates the development of society, by operationalizing the concepts of "joint decision-making, joint development-seeking, joint supervision, joint results-assessing, andjoint benefits-sharing". Different from western mode, the Chinese urban grass-root society is largely shaped by governmental willpower, for the urban plans of major Chinese cities are all the products of national guidelines. It also distinguishes itself from Chinese rural development. In ancient China, the rural society was far from imperial power. This tradition has been inherited to the contemporary era which leads to a high degree of autonomy of rural Chinese people. However, western theories might not apply to China, and the experience of autonomy of Chinese villagers might not be fully applicable to urban issues. The action plan of "Together to Create a Beautiful Xiamen" contributes to the emergence of urban autonomy in China as the response to nationalstrategy, but also gives rise to a new state-society relations in today’s new era-mutual promotion and joint governance, which sets a new path for urban social development in government-led state.