Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.2, 2013

The Project System and the Mobilization of Grassroots Government Officials: A Sociological Study of the Project-oriented Operation of Social Management

(Abstract)

Chen Jiajian

Given the limited administrative resources at the grassroots level, higher authorities tend to mobilize local governments with the project system to achieve work objectives. Relative to the traditional bureaucratic system, the project system grants higher authorities with centralized power of fund management, special power of personnel appointments and efficient mobilizing procedure, and is thus more effective and convenient. The implementation of the project system at the grassroots level has caused a restructuring of the bureaucratic system, such that mobilization within the government has been transformed from “hierarchical mobilization” to “multi-sector mobilization,” and that the allocation of administrative resources has also been transformed into the project-centered model. Furthermore, the “self-expansion” effects of the project system also push the project system deep into the government system, enabling it to assume growing and sustained influence.