Social Assistance Under Capitalist Authoritarian Rule: Two Management Models in Chinese Municipalities

This study uses a micro set of Chinese city-level data to understand the varying choices taken by municipal officials in their distribution of a minimum livelihood scheme. It explores the variation in the apportionment of allowances offered to disparate types of poor groups in poor versus wealthy ci...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of contemporary Asia 2014-07, Vol.44 (3), p.500-520
Main Author: Solinger, Dorothy J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Apportionment
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism (Political Ideology)
Authority
Capitalism
China
Cities
Competition
Democracy
Dictatorship
Globalization
Local Government
Low income groups
Management
Modernization
Municipalities
Peoples Republic of China
Rationing
Regulation
social assistance
Social insurance
sub-national governance
Tourism
Urban poverty
Welfare
Welfare economics
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Summary:This study uses a micro set of Chinese city-level data to understand the varying choices taken by municipal officials in their distribution of a minimum livelihood scheme. It explores the variation in the apportionment of allowances offered to disparate types of poor groups in poor versus wealthy cities. The paper argues that in China, where profits, modernisation, competition and globalisation have become significant to leaders at all levels, there is a logic undergirding welfare allocation that has nothing to do with the calculus that spurs its delivery in democracies, and yet that is more nuanced than stylised models of dictatorship/authoritarianism presume. The paper also demonstrates that, where lower echelons of governmental administration have the authority to make rules about the rationing of social assistance, urban finances appear to have an impact upon (or at least to correlate with) administrators' allocational decisions to groups among the poor. This influence of municipal financial health is exerted directly in the case of poor places, by enticing officials to attempt to save on funds; it also seems to operate indirectly in wealthier municipalities, by disposing richer cities' authorities to design their urban areas as showcases, in the hope of attracting tourism and foreign investment.
ISSN:0047-2336
1752-7554
DOI:10.1080/00472336.2013.871057