Tianjin Binhai New Area: A Case Study of Multi-Level Streams Model of Chinese Decision-Making

The authors develop a new multi-level streams model in order to explain the Chinese decision-making process with regards to the top-down allocation of resources and administrative reforms. Using this policy model, the 2005 decision to upgrade the Tianjin Binhai New Area (TBNA) to the national level can be regarded as a relatively rational choice with a series of interaction of political processes among the elites at the central and local levels such as the local officials and social elites, and central leaders. However, in the administrative system of economic development, there are disagreements and conflicts among different parts within and outside the TBNA. The central and the Tianjin governments are now trying to coordinate the relationship among local governments within the Circum-Bohai Region and within the TBNA through structural reform and personnel reshuffling.

Xufeng ZhuEmail:

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Xufeng Zhu   is an associate professor at the Zhou Enlai School of Government, Nankai University, and a Yenching Visiting Scholar at the Harvard Yenching Institute, Harvard University. His current research interests involve the study of the Chinese policy process, China’s think tanks, policy analyses, and social stratification in transitional China. His recent publications appear in Social Sciences in China (in Chinese), Policy Sciences, Public Administration and Development, and Asian Survey, to name a few. He is also the author of a forthcoming book entitled China’s Think Tanks: The Research on Their Influences in the Policy Process (in Chinese). Bing Sun   is an assistant professor at the Zhou Enlai School of Government, Nankai University. His current research interests involve the study of China urban and regional public administration. His recent publication is Regional Coordination Organization and Regional Governance (in Chinese).