Social Sciences in China

Vol. 34, No. 3, 2013

The Project System and the Mobilization of Basic Level Governments: A Sociological Study of the Project-oriented Operation of Social Management

(Abstract)

Chen Jiajian

Given the shortage of administrative resources at the basic level, higher level authorities are making more and more use of the project system to mobilize basic level local governments. Compared with the traditional bureaucratic system, the project system offers higher level departments centralized financial management power, special personnel arrangements and highly efficient mobilization procedures, enabling them to see results faster. The promotion of the project system in basic level governments has resulted in a restructuring of the bureaucratic system and has seen an internal government mobilization shift from “hierarchical mobilization” to “multiple-line mobilization” and a project-centered model of administrative resource allocation. In addition, the “self-aggrandizing” effect of the project system means that it has gone deep into the government system, where it has a sustained and increasing influence.