Local Entrepreneurialism in China: Multiple Roles and Practice Strategies

Abstract

Local entrepreneurialism provides an important theoretical perspective for the study of economic growth-oriented local governance after the 1980s. This theory originated in the revival of economic liberalism following the Western economic crisis. Influenced by global urbanization and deregulation, cities have been redefined as important scales of spatial governance. Local governments have abandoned "managerialism," which emphasizes regional equilibrium, and turned to "entrepreneurilism", which emphasizes local wealth accumulation, weakening the welfare state system and emphasizing absolute gain. Since the economic reform was launched in 1978, China has experienced a transition from state socialism, conceptualized as a triple process of decentralization, marketization, and globalization. The logic of local government behavior underwent profound changes during the transition. Local governments are increasingly showing behavioral characteristics that originally belonged to enterprises. These local governmental acts create the economic miracle and unique spatial phenomenon of the "Chinese paradigm," widely called "local entrepreneurialism." With the critical period of urbanization, exploring effective ways to improve local governance capabilities has become an important topic of concern for all sectors of society. Sorting out the rise and development of the theory about local entrepreneurialism, this paper seeks to construct an analysis framework for local entrepreneurialism in China by integrating the notions of strategy, discourse, and fashion. Furthermore, this paper proposes the "Chinese characteristics" of local entrepreneurialism by reviewing specific strategies adopted by local governments with multiple identities or acting as different roles, namely the owner of public (land) resources, the user of administrative resources, the urban manager, and the allocator of development rights. Therefore, the following conclusion were drawn: (1) Compared with the extensive participation in the Western system, China's local entrepreneurialism involves more administrative intervention, and all localities play a leading role in local entrepreneurial practice by virtue of their monopoly rights. (2) Although decentralization reform endows local governments with certain powers and responsibilities, state intervention still exists. The goal of an entrepreneurial strategy is to safeguard state powers. (3) In the new stage, the connotation and external form of local entrepreneurialism are expanding. Economic growth is no longer the primary theme of local development. How to pay attention to efficiency and fairness has become an important topic at present, and we argue that the sustainability of local entrepreneurial strategies and their impact on rural governance might be key research directions for future studies. This study aimed to provide a reference for the transformation of governance in this new era.

Keywords

• entrepreneurialism
• governmental roles
• neoliberalism
• glurbanization
• governance
• china