GRF GRANT PROJECT TITLE: Local Government Innovation under Political Recentralization in Contemporary China: A Two-stage Sequential Study FUNDING AGENCY: General Research Fund (GRF), Research Grants Council, Hong Kong SAR (Ref. 16600324) AMOUNT AWARDED: HK$791,494. PROJECT DESCRIPTION: His proposed study explores the impact of political (re)centralization on local government innovations in China. It seeks to address the scholarly debate on whether the powerful political recentralization since 2013 has led to a decrease in local government innovations, or if the fundamental momentum of local state dynamism remains robust despite the changes in political incentives and opportunity structure. The study will adopt a two-stage sequential research design. First, it will use text-mining techniques to collect data from a large corpus of official texts to map out the macro landscape of local government innovations from 2008 to 2023, before and after the central leadership transition. This quantitative analysis will help identify the various types of innovations. Secondly, the study will conduct comparative case studies in two provinces to provide in-depth qualitative insights. By combining quantitative and qualitative evidence, the research aims to offer a comprehensive understanding of the complex relationship between political (re) centralization and local government innovations in contemporary China. The findings of this study have important policy implications, as they can inform policymakers and administrators on how to foster an environment conducive to local innovation and good governance, even in the context of political recentralization. Prof. Alex Jingwei He Associate Professor, PPOL Acting Director, IPP 11 GRANT
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