Formation of Relational Poverty Governance and its Impacts: How Chinese Local Governments Implement Poverty Alleviation Programs

This study considers how the Chinese government’s strategy of relational poverty governance has permitted its gaining control over parts of the country where its authority was fragile. President Xi Jinping’s interest in targeted poverty alleviation has led success of this strategy to become a major...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chinese journal of political science 2022-06, Vol.27 (2), p.295-317
Main Authors: Xu, Hanze, Xu, Mingqiang, Chen, Wei
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alleviation
Antipoverty programs
Bureaucracy
Governance
Local government
Mobilization
Political power
Political Science
Political Science and International Relations
Political Science and International Studies
Poverty
Presidents
Program implementation
Remote areas
Research Article
Rural communities
State power
Supervision
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Summary:This study considers how the Chinese government’s strategy of relational poverty governance has permitted its gaining control over parts of the country where its authority was fragile. President Xi Jinping’s interest in targeted poverty alleviation has led success of this strategy to become a major concern of local governments. Based on fieldwork undertaken in China during the period 2016–2020, the article shows that state-managed political mobilization and rigid bureaucratic governance strategies are not the only means through which political power is exercised; relational poverty governance is another basis of the exercise of state power in rural communities. Mechanisms whereby three levels of state power—symbolic, bureaucratic, and moral—are executed in relational governance are identified. Through practical operations that include emotional interactions, paired assistance systems, and moral supervision, the state regains control in remote areas and strives to achieve successful governance. The article concludes by discussing the policy effectiveness of relational poverty governance and its implications for rural governance in contemporary China.
ISSN:1080-6954
1874-6357
DOI:10.1007/s11366-022-09788-1