Research On The Motivation And Mechanism Of "River Chief System" Policy Innovation Diffusion

Currently in a period of social transformation,in order to meet the challenges of public governance,Chinese governments at all levels have carried out innovations.However,it is rare to succeed in spreading and being widely adopted nationwide.The River Chief System is a local government policy creative with Chinese characteristics,and it's also a product of innovation that spreading to the whole country in the context of China's localized political ecology.From the perspective of the motivation and mechanism affecting the diffusion of policy innovations,this article selects the Taihu Lake Basin as an example for analysis.Based on the "Model of Local Government Innovation Diffusion" proposed by Professor Xufeng Zhu,this paper built a theoretical analysis framework for this study,combining with the policy innovation diffusion theory.The theoretical analysis framework believes that the driving factors what promote the diffusion of innovation are background,subject,object,and media;the mechanism of innovation diffusion is learning,competition,imitation,and coercion.Firstly,it introduces the origin and institutional framework of the River Chief System policy,and sorts out the diffusion process of it throughout the country.Secondly,it introduces the general situation of the Taihu Lake Basin and the reform of its governance mechanism,and studies the general situation of the innovation diffusion of the River Chief System in the provinces of the Taihu Lake Basin.Through empirical research on the case of the Taihu Lake Basin,this paper aims to extract the driving factors and diffusion mechanisms that affect the policy innovation diffusion of the River Chief System.According to the research,among the dynamic factors,the specific situation of water pollution control is the background where the policy innovation diffusion of the River Chief System can take place;On the subject side,the local government actively promotes the River Chief System innovation diffusion under the influence of vertical relationship;The objective elements are the relative advantages and compatibility of the River Chief System itself make the policy easy to accept;The media refers to the promotion of news media,policy entrepreneurs,especially local government officials.Motivation factors work through mechanisms such as learning,competition,imitation,and coercion.In the Taihu Lake Basin,these four mechanisms are widespread.What's more,the author compares the history of innovation diffusion in the Taihu Lake Basin and at the national level,finding that although the innovation diffusion in the Taihu Lake Basin started early,the internal logic of the two is consistent:The time conforms to the characteristics of the S curve;The hierarchy effect of the path is significant;The spatial proximity effect is obvious;Imitation and innovation coexist in content.Finally,based on the successful experience of the Policy Diffusion of the River Chief System,combined with the actual situation of China's administrative system and local politics,the future local government innovation diffusion can be strengthened by the administrative pressure of the upper-level government,the institutionalization of innovation achievements,mobilizing social forces and giving full play to the role of policy entrepreneurs,and promotes the spread of the innovation policy across the country,thereby promoting China's political development.