Regional Government Competition

Chen Yunxian, Gu Wenjing

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9780429841422
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Economía
• Subtopic: Teoría económica

This monograph provides a coherent and systematic explanation of China's regional economic development from the perspective of regional government competition. It gives an almost unknown exposition of the mechanisms of China's regional economic development, with numerous supporting cases drawn from both China and elsewhere. This book is an invaluable resource for anyone interested to learn more particularly the development and transformation of China's regional economy from both the Chinese and global perspectives.

1
Regional government

1.1 Regional government: a demarcation

1.1.1 Nature of regional government

“Region” is a multi-faceted, multi-layered and highly relative concept and can be interpreted from various perspectives. The perspective of politics refers to a region as an administrative unit under national jurisdiction; the sociological perspective regards it as a community of human beings with the same language, belief and ethnicity in a society; and the geographical perspective defines it as a geographical unit on the planet.

However, economics posits that a region is a relatively large territory with various types of resources for a range of productive and non-productive social-economic activities. This definition is three-pronged:

• (a) Region is a relative concept. It does not exist unless an overall boundary is given. For example, relative to the whole world, all continents and nations can be viewed as regions. Relative to a nation, various localities within it can be viewed as regions, and so on.
• (b) Region is not a natural object but a result of human perception upon natural objects: a conceptual representation.
• (c) Regions share some common characteristics. They are divided according to their commonalities in certain aspects, and different criteria will lead to varied regional divisions.

“Regional government” refers to an organization which manages an administrative region of a nation. It is often used in relation to “national government” or, in a federal state, “federal government”. Regional government (not including special administrative regions) in China is set at the provincial, municipal, county and township level. A fully functioning regional government should consist of three elements: (a) a relatively stable region, (b) a relatively concentrated population and (c) institutions that govern the region.

Government is characterized by publicity and coerciveness. The publicity of a government indicates that it is a formal representative for the whole society, representing all relevant tangible organizations and thus reflecting and representing the will and interests of the whole society. As an integral part of the multi-layered governance system, regional governments have one feature in common, i.e. serving the general public, whether they function as representative institutions set by the national government or as entities that possess relative administrative powers. In addition to “super-economic coercive” legislative, judicial and administrative powers, the coerciveness of government also resides in its “economic coercive” powers, which are embodied in the financial, administrative and resource allocating power of regional government.

The “super-economic coercive” power and the “economic coercive” power of regional government are contingent upon the game between the region and the nation and the region’s social and economic strength of development. Therefore, regional government can exercise two types of power – political power, or the power of “quasi-state”, and economic power, or the power of “quasi-enterprise”. The former refers to regional government exercising the authorities granted by the state to oversee public expenditure and maintain market order within that region by means of taxation, business administration, public security and market regulation. It also guarantees justice, openness and fairness by means of legislation and jurisdiction. The latter refers to regional government gaining benefits through its financial, administrative and resource allocating power, which is achieved through such organizational forms as state-owned, state-controlling and state-holding enterprises; control of land, mines and resources; and policy implementation.

States all over the world fall into unitary and composite types. The functions of regional government vary with the structural type of the state. In a unitary state, sub-national units such as administrative regions and autonomous regions are established according to geography. The national government has the ultimate and supreme authority. Regional government exercises only the powers that the national government chooses to delegate, in accordance to its constitutions and laws. Regional government, under the leadership and supervision of the national government, has the right to administer local affairs. National government provides guidance and supervision over the regional government by means of policies and laws. Countries like the UK, France, China, Japan and Italy fall into this type. In a composite state, more than two member nations, states or provinces are allied by agreements or constitutions. The range of powers of the state and its member states are stipulated by the constitution. All regional governments enjoy a high degree of autonomy within the range of their powers. They exercise their powers directly upon their people without interference from other regional governments. Since each regional government performs its duties in accordance with its position in the overall system and its range of power, its interests and behavioral patterns and those of the national government may not be always consistent. They manage affairs out of their own interests. Countries like the USA, Australia, Canada, Germany and Brazil fall into this type. Whether in a unitary state or a composite state, it is difficult, technically speaking, for the national government to integrate all levels of administration at low cost. Thus, it is necessary to take advantage of regional governments to look into regional needs and tackle regional problems. That gives regional governments greater importance and highlights their roles.

Relative to the national government and non-governmental entities in a region (including residents, enterprises and other organizations), regional government has two prominent roles to play: the representative for the interests of both the national government and regional non-governmental entities, and the intermediate agent or bridge for the exchange of information between the national government and regional non-governmental entities. Regional government serves in a “dual role” in between the national government and non-governmental entities. On one hand, regional government acts as the agent of the national government, exercising macro-level regulation on regional economy, and plays the “quasi-state” role, acting on behalf of the state so as to guide and lead economic regulation and boost development. On the other hand, regional government acts as the agent of non-governmental entities in a region, striving for support from the national government, distributing local resources and maximizing the benefits of local economy by means of institutional, organizational and technological innovation – hence the “quasi-enterprise” role.

Regional governments have been transformed into relatively independent “stakeholders” as a result of a series of fiscal and financial reforms that aimed to delegate powers to regional governments in countries worldwide. Decades of market-oriented reforms have continuously enhanced the autonomy and financial status of regional governments. In fact, regional governments have already become relatively independent economic entities. The dual roles of regional governments put them in a unique position both of leading social economic activities and in being led. To one end, relative to the national government, regional governments serve as decision makers and quasi-micro entities, attempting to gain more economic benefits. To the oth...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Foreword
• Preface
• Translators
• 1 Regional government
• 2 Three categories of resources
• 3 Resource allocation in “the four phases”
• 4 The representations and effects of regional government competition
• 5 Effective government and efficient market
• Bibliography
• Index