Study On Influencing Factors And Mechanism Of Cross-Border Policy Diffusion

The horizontal ecological compensation system is one of the important policy innovations of the government in order to balance the relationship between economic development and environmental protection,and its rapid promotion throughout the country is the concentrated embodiment of policy innovation diffusion.Since 2011,Xin ’anjiang River Basin began to explore the inter-provincial horizontal basin ecological compensation system,which has achieved excellent environmental governance effects.Provincial governments in other river basins began to follow the example of cooperative innovation,and a phenomenon of "cross-border policy innovation diffusion" emerged,in which provincial governments in the river basin jointly carried out policy innovation.Cross-border policy diffusion refers to a process in which two(or more)independent governments cooperate in policy innovation to solve public problems with strong externalities,and spread it among other local governments with similar problems through certain channels and networks.In-depth study of this phenomenon of "cross-border policy innovation diffusion" is conducive to resolving the difficulties of inter-governmental cooperation and promoting the modernization of national governance capacity and governance system,which has strong practical significance.In the theoretical research of policy diffusion,cross-border policy diffusion is a "special phenomenon" in the research field of policy diffusion in China,which requires in-depth and detailed research to improve the theoretical map of policy diffusion in China.This study first attempts to construct an analytical framework for the diffusion of cross-border policies.Based on China’s unique situation and the research of existing scholars,from the three levels of system,organization and environment,it selects factors such as "risk" and "incentive" that affect the process of cross-border policy diffusion to construct a complete framework for the analysis of the process of cross-border policy diffusion.Secondly,13 cases of horizontal watershed ecological compensation in China are analyzed,and the temporal and spatial characteristics of the diffusion of horizontal ecological compensation system are summarized.It is found that the time law of diffusion with provincial governments as the unit shows an S-shaped trend,while that with watershed cases as the unit shows a slow trapezoidal upward trend.In space,the diffusion is mainly toward the north and south.It is concluded that the top-down interaction catalytic diffusion and top-down mandatory diffusion are the main modes of horizontal ecological compensation system diffusion.Then,using the analysis method of QCA and the collected data of ecological compensation cases in various river basins from 2011 to 2022,and relying on the constructed analysis framework of cross-border policy diffusion,the paper explores the main influencing factors and core paths of the innovation effect of horizontal ecological compensation system from five aspects: environmental difference,organizational structure,social risk,political risk and central fund involvement.It is found that,on the premise of significant economic differences among relevant local governments within the basin,the central government includes the basin in the pilot,carries out capital injection to promote local policy innovation,and relevant local governments set up temporary organizations for consultation and co-governance,which are the core paths to induce the innovation and diffusion of the basin ecological compensation system.Finally,from the perspective of "strategic groups",this study analyzes the "core path" of cross-border policy innovation diffusion,and further discusses the mechanism of forming the core path of cross-border policy diffusion.This paper proposes an analytical framework of the core path of cross-border policy diffusion from the perspective of strategic groups,and finds that cross-border policy diffusion conforms to the unique policy diffusion process of "local source innovation-central absorption and promotion-local follow-up" in China.Specifically,it is manifested in the strategic construction of cross-border policies in the initiative stage,the adaptation of policy innovation in the extension stage and the follow-up of "organized anarchy".The main mechanism is that risk constraint and incentive mechanism shape the content and rate of policy innovation,the "benevolent relationship" between officials promotes and strengthens the possibility and execution of policy innovation and promotion,and the "uncertainty" of policy provides space for local governments to innovate independently,improving the enthusiasm and initiative of local governments to absorb policy innovation.