Political Contestation and the Emergence of the Provincial People's Congresses as...

In the process of institutionalizing themselves, the Chinese Provincial People's Congresses (PPCs) have used their power in a more assertive manner and even contested decisions from other more powerful institutions, as shown by cases from the past two decades. By presenting a network mode of governance, this paper argues that institutional linkages and reciprocal strategy have, respectively, featured the institution building of the PPCs and their interaction with other power players, and thus the tension between institutional development and the expansion of power for the PPCs was solved. These two goals were pursued simultaneously in the Chinese legislative development. This was made possible by the way in which the PPCs conducted their activities. In their contestation with other institutions, the leaders within the PPCs conscientiously followed a 'Mohe' strategy, i.e. competition-cum-cooperation, and expanded the legislative power without turning other political players into their stumbling blocks. The paper attributes this unique development to the choice-set defined by the changing environment of the political economy under reform and Deng Xiaoping's ideas, the institutional linkages within the system of the people's congresses, and the astute leadership of the political entrepreneurs within the PPCs. This mixture of consultation and confrontation in the interactions between the PPCs and other major political institutions also indicated a change of political governance in China toward a network mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]