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Policy Paradigm Shift and the Changing Role of the State: The Development of Social Policy in China since 2003

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2014

King-Lun Ngok  and
Genghua Huang
King-Lun Ngok
Affiliation:
School of Government/Center for Chinese Public Administration Research, Sun Yat-sen University E-mail: klngok@126.com
Genghua Huang
Affiliation:
Hong Kong Institute of Education E-mail: zsuhgh@126.com
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Abstract

Since 2003 the rapid development of China's social policy has aroused much academic interest. This research places the development of social policy in China's political and economic context, focusing on the changing role of the state in making and implementing social policy. Based on the policy paradigm theory, this article builds up a framework to analyse the shift of social policy paradigms in post-Mao China, examining the changing role of the Chinese state in social welfare and social development. It argues that China's latest round of social policy expansion was driven by the social problems accumulated during the economic reforms, with change triggered by the SARS crisis, and its shape finally determined by the central political leadership led by Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao in a top-down manner.

Keywords

China's social policywelfare expansionpolicy paradigmsparadigm shift
Type
Themed Section on Managing Social Change and Social Policy in Greater China: Welfare Regimes in Transition?
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , April 2014 , pp. 251 - 261
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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