Steering urban-rural integration: administrative reconfiguration for a unified citizenship

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Elena Meyer-Clement; Dr. René Trappel
• Subject Area: Political Science
• Term: from 2017 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 401071735

This project will revisit and apply the theoretical framework of political steering (Politische Steuerung) to investigate the steering capacity and governability of the Chinese political system with regard to the reforms that are aimed at achieving the so-called integrated development of urban and rural areas, or in short, urban-rural integration. The project focuses on the following set of policy issues that are at the core of these reforms: the reforms of China`s dual land system; the reorganization of agriculture; the overall coordination of urban development; and the social, economic and political integration of migrants in the cities. It argues that these reforms represent a shift in the center`s reform strategy towards completely dismantling the structural duality of China`s administration that evolved in the early years of the People`s Republic, and that such restructuring has radical implications for intergovernmental and state-society relations. An in-depth analysis of the making and implementation of these reforms will not only provide us with insights into one of the most critical parts of the recent reform agenda, but will also greatly improve our understanding of the Chinese political system`s capacity to conduct such systemic transformations.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Denmark