EXPLORING ‘POLICY EXPERIMENTAL UNITS’ IN THE POLICY PROCESS OF CHINA
| Date | 01 September 2014 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12132 |
| Published date | 01 September 2014 |
| Author | Dechao Sun |
REVIEWS 765
EXPLORING ‘POLICY EXPERIMENTAL UNITS’ IN THE POLICY PROCESS
OF CHINA
Wang Zhou
Tianjin Publishing & Media Group, Tianjin People’s Publishing House, 2013, 193 pp.,
¥32.00 (pb), ISBN: 9787201085418
The ‘policy experimental unit’ is the name for China’s long-standing model of testing and
implementing public policies. Zhou’s book, Exploring ‘Policy Experimental Units’ in the Pol-
icy Process of China, systematically examines these policy experimental units. Among the
questions he explores are: How are policy experimental units created? What are the stages
in these units’ policy-formulating, testing, and implementing processes? How do these
stages start and evolve? What are the impacts of these units on governance? What prob-
lems have they created?
The creation of the policy experimental unit, the combination of bold experiments,
demonstrations and dissemination, can be traced back to the government’s land reform of
the 1920s. Given the drastically different regional realities, government relied on the cre-
ative spirit of regions to continuously grope their way forward to accumulate experience
that would serve the reform project.
The working of the policy experimental unit can be divided into phases. First, in the
‘try-and-see’ phase, units are selected. Multiple administrative tasks follow. They include
organizing, designing, supervising, publicizing, and assessing the work of the experimen-
tal units. Second, in the promotion phase, policy-makers examine the experience gained
at one unit and study its wider applicability. They seek to expand the applicable scope of
the policy as broadly as possible. In practice, this phase requires determining applicabil-
ity, further testing and disseminating the policy, and comparing experiences among more
units.
Two forces stand out in shaping the functioning of a unit: driving force by the cen-
tral government, and competition among local governments. These two forces may vary,
and their varied combinations result in four types of triggering mechanisms of policy
experimental units: (1) striving type: strong driving force and strong local competition; (2)
appointing type: strong driving force and weak local competition; (3) ratifying type: weak
driving force and strong local competition; and (4) spontaneous type: weak driving force
and weak local competition.
Once the work of the policy experimental unit has reached a mature stage, promoting
these accomplishments becomes necessary. Again, two forces come into play: the central
government’s controlling ability, and the learning ability of adopting governments. Their
varied combinations lead to four kinds of policy dispersal mechanisms: (1) radiating type:
strong controlling and strong learning; (2) coping type: strong controlling and weak learn-
ing; (3) extending type: weak controlling and strong learning; and (4) sitting-on-the-fence
type: weak controlling and weak learning.
Ever since their creation, policy experimental units have demonstrated a lasting impact
on China’s policy process and their importance as governing institutions has remained
vital. Zhou explains the role that these units play as governments constantly adjust their
policies. The utility of these units lies in their experimental nature: that is, their ability to
integrate various policy ideas and subjecting them to realistic tests. In such processes, they
invariably synthesize a myriad of institutional arrangements – old and new, internal and
Public Administration Vol.92, No. 3, 2014 (761–768)
© 2014 John Wiley& Sons Ltd.
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