institutions of the party-state major debate about the capacity of the chinese state where does...
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Institutions of the Party-State
Major debate about the capacity of the Chinese state Where does Pei Minxin stand?
Alternative argument: Yang Dali +
Institutions of the Party-State
Major debate about the capacity of the Chinese state Where does Pei Minxin stand? Alternative argument: Yang Dali*
China has made significant institutional reforms to improve governance
Critique: strong on policy; weak on implementation
*Remaking the Chinese Leviathan Now let’s look at some empirical
evidence to assess the relative merits of each side in the debate.
Institutions of the party-state
Fiscal Policy Background:1994 tax and fiscal reforms Established National Tax Service (collects central
and shared taxes under Tax Sharing System) historic! Budgetary revenue as share of GDP
1994 10.8 percent 2005 17.3 percent
Centralized control over fiscal revenue Center’s share of budgetary revenue
1993 22 percent Since 1994 > 50 percent
Continued decentralized expenditure responsibility Revenue squeeze on local governments
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Central + provincial shares of total revenue and expenditures (%)
1993 2003Revenue 35 66
(+31)Expenditure 45 49
(+ 4)
Source: Wong 2006
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Fiscal Policy Background
Further centralized control over fiscal revenue 2002 reassigned corporate and individual
income taxes from local to shared category with center taking 60 percent
Abolished agriculture taxes burdensome on low-income farmers After 2002
No Ag Special Products Tax No Slaughter Tax
After 2004 No Agriculture Tax
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Fiscal Policy Background
Why is central fiscal capacity important? Is Dali Yang’s optimism justified?
p.44
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Institutions of the party-state Implications of fiscal policy: fiscal gap
40-45 percent covered by local and shared taxes 40-50 percent of fiscal needs covered by
intergovernmental fiscal transfers 5-10 percent of fiscal needs unmet (Wang
Yongjun estimate 2006). High degree of dependence on fiscal transfers
Central gov. sends resources to poorer areas Reliance on off-budget funds and local gov.
debt Exacerbated by political pressures
Tenure, promotion criteria
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Institutions of the party-state Using law to govern (Dali Yang’s
argument) Under Mao, used ideology more than law During reform era, new role for law
Bring regularity to government operations Indicate policy direction Supervise/regulate functioning of state agencies
Key institutions for ruling by law People’s Congresses Courts
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Institutions of the party-state Hierarchy of authoritative documents Enactments with the formal status of law —in the sense of being enforceable by courts
Constitution xianfa 宪法 National People’s Congress & Standing
Committee statutes/laws falü 法律 State Council administrative regulations xingzheng fagui 行政
法规 Provincial-level people’s congresses local regulations difangxing fagui 地方性法规
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Institutions of the party-state Problems with the hierarchy of
authoritative doc’s No good system for authoritatively resolving
conflicts between different rules Technically,
Constitution Law on Legislation
National People’s Congress Standing Committee May review and invalidate legislation passed by lower-
level bodies NPC not known to have overturned a single
administrative or local regulation (Chen 2004:114)
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Institutions of the party-state Problems with the hierarchy of
authoritative doc’s Courts
Not allowed to play role of resolving conflicts of law/rules Not allowed to invalidate legislation Can only either appeal to higher legislative body or
apply lower-level rule Regulations passed by lower-level governments
often trump superior regulations In practice, local governments dominate Administrative Litigation Law
In principle, citizens can sue in court to force governments to follow only laws already on the books land ex.
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Institutions of the party-state Courts beholden to local party-state
No tenure for judges Local government controls funding Local party committee and party political-
legal committee ( 政法委员会 ) Have influence over
Court personnel (technically People’s Congress authority over
personnel) Acceptance of cases Handling of cases
Chen Guangcheng, “blind lawyer” Sought to enforce
“2002 Population and Family Planning Law” “Family planning shall
be practiced chiefly by means of contraception” Article 19
“informed choice” Led lawsuit by rural
residents of Linyi against local government practices Sterilization Forced abortion
Chen Guangcheng, “blind lawyer” Beijing University Law
Professor, Zhan Zhongle, who helped draft the “2002 Population and Family Planning Law” re: Chen’s challenge “By suing the government,
Linyi peasants are merely asserting their legal rights. Whether the courts accept the case, and how they handle it, will be a test of China’s Justice system and of whether China can govern according to law.” (Source: Washington Post, 8/27/05)
Institutions of the party-state Local People’s Congresses
In principle, new supervisory role over local governments (Dali Yang, p. 49)
Must approve work report of government Must appraise local official’s performance Must approve local government budget
In practice, very limited Lack authority to actually punish local governments Only party performance appraisal matters Party group steers People’s Congress Standing
Committee PC lacks adequate data or staff to meaningfully
supervise budget
Institutions of the party-state Local People’s Congresses
Examples of real attempts at supervision (reflects what PC deputies hear from local
citizens) Hubei, Shiyan PC vetoed work report of government
to highlight misappropriation of poverty relief funds Hubei, Wuhan PC vetoed work report of
government to highlight poor implementation of employment re-training project for laid-off workers
What really happens Governments ignore PC signal sent to higher level party apparatus—it
then can choose whether to take action
Institutions of the party-state17
Questions for discussion: To whom are local cadres accountable? What aspects of the system promote
effective policy implementation? What are the structural obstacles to
effective governance?
Questions for discussion
Why has the passage of significant environmental legislation and the building of an extensive environmental regulatory framework not led to improved policy implementation or reduced environmental degradation?
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