Politics, Markets and Modes of Contract Governance: Regulating Social Services in Shanghai and Chongqing, China
Wei Li is an assistant professor in the Department of Government and Public Administration at Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include politics of regulation, public sector reforms, social policy analysis, among others.
Bao Yang is an associate professor of public management at Chongqing University of China. His research interests are situated in the fields of government-NPO relations, performance of public service, and civic engagement.
Inspired by the concept of the regulatory welfare state, this article identifies four primary modes of governance in regulating contract processes and contract implementation (market-based, hierarchical, professional, and relational), and compares contract governance modes in Shanghai and Chongqing. We find that the governments in these two localities prioritize and integrate the hierarchical and relational modes, relying less on the market-based and professional modes of governance. The emphasis on the hierarchical-relational mode advances the values and mechanisms of trust, adaptation, and alignment with top-down priorities, but may hinder public and legal accountability. We argue that the dynamics of political context and market condition affect the formation and effectiveness of hybrid modes of contract governance, and we advise that regulators in different countries should factor in such dynamics when designing contract governance modes in the regulation of social services.
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