How Can Differences In Use Of Deliberative Outcomes In China And The EU Be Explained?

In recent years, policymakers in both China and the EU have conducted deliberative polling experiments as a way to directly involve citizens in policymaking. While the method is the same, a closer comparison reveals that the core of the problem it is employed to solve differs between China and the EU, causing differences in how the outcomes of deliberative polling are included in policy decisions. This thesis uses a framework proposed by policy network theory to demonstrate that the stronger need for citizen input legitimacy in the Chinese case of Zeguo than in the EU case of EuroPolis could be explained as the result of underlying dynamics of resource exchanges between governments and citizens.