THESIS
2023
1 online resource (xi, 130 pages) : illustrations
Abstract
In non-democratic regimes, it remains a considerable challenge to reconcile
the long-term, broad interests of the state with the short-term, specific interests of localities,
particularly in mega projects that necessitate substantial resource extraction from local
regions. In the context of the People’s Republic of China, particularly during the late Mao era
(1969-1976), this central-local tension is further complicated by the “tiao-kuai” relations.
Existing scholarship primarily relies on a state capacity-oriented approach, emphasizing the
external structure of policymaking. This thesis, however, adopts a more process-oriented,
contextualized approach by examining local archives of two railways constructed during the
Third Front Construction in southwestern China from 1970 to 1973, whi...[
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In non-democratic regimes, it remains a considerable challenge to reconcile
the long-term, broad interests of the state with the short-term, specific interests of localities,
particularly in mega projects that necessitate substantial resource extraction from local
regions. In the context of the People’s Republic of China, particularly during the late Mao era
(1969-1976), this central-local tension is further complicated by the “tiao-kuai” relations.
Existing scholarship primarily relies on a state capacity-oriented approach, emphasizing the
external structure of policymaking. This thesis, however, adopts a more process-oriented,
contextualized approach by examining local archives of two railways constructed during the
Third Front Construction in southwestern China from 1970 to 1973, which enables a
“typical” authoritarian state to justify their extractive policies to localities. It argues that the
central authorities and local officials manage to bridge the gap between long-term general
welfare and specific short-term local interests through a process of “negotiated mobilization.”
This intra-bureaucratic negotiation relies on a normative platform of public goods provision,
enhanced by central political discourse agreed upon by both the state bureaucrats and the
local officials. Local officials leverage the central discourse to voice their grievances and
claims contentiously, while the state fully utilizes the normative platform to identify and
support localities through hidden assistance or acquiescence. The thesis exemplifies this by
examining the diversion of state-designated resources to local use. It delineates the typology,
handling suggestions, and hidden forms of diversionary behaviors, as well as the negotiations
over Mao’s thoughts, which both sides used to proclaim their interests. This thesis offers a
valuable perspective for reexamining central-local relations in non-democracies, especially
Mao’s China, and provides a feasible explanation for the relationship between pre-reform and
post-reform China.
Keywords: Third Front Construction, Central-local interests, “tiao-kuai” relations, negotiated
mobilization
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