Research agenda: Driving forces of policy making and implementation in China
Broadly speaking, I examine the driving forces of policy change and policy stability in China, as well as the content of such policies. My overarching research question is: what and who drives policy making and policy implementation in China?
Theoretically, my research agenda is embedded in the policy process literature, especially the Multiple Streams Framework and the Punctuated Equilibrium Theory.
Topics that I study include antimicrobial resistance, health reform, epidemic outbreaks, food safety, crisis management, natural disasters, soil pollution, and environmental accidents.
Most of my research focuses on national level policy, especially the process of lawmaking by China’s National People’s Congress. In my research projects, I use document analysis, interviews, and surveys.
Overview of some of my past and current projects
Implementation of China’s National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance
– with PI Benjamin Anderson
This study improves our understanding of how policymakers’ perceptions of antimicrobial drive their behaviour and selection of policy options aimed at appropriate use of antimicrobials and will impact on policies and responses for AMR use currently being developed in Asian countries. This project is funded by the World Health Organization, see interview.
Measuring policy change in China: A text reuse approach
– with Mattias van den Dool Enebjörk
This paper measures policy change in China. By applying a text reuse approach that compares the textual difference between successive versions of the same law, we calculate a similarity index for all national level laws amended by the National People’s Congress during 1954-2016. We find that policy change in China is mostly incremental. Moreover, the more amendments a law goes through, the bigger the chance that change is incremental. Presented at the ICPP5 (2021).
Pedagogical Approaches in Teaching the Multiple Streams Framework
– with Nikolaos Zahariadis & Evangelia Petridou
This chapter describes the main concepts, key assumptions, and different hypotheses of the by the Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) as well as learning objectives and pedagogy on how best to teach MSF. Under review, book chapter in edited volume.
Legitimizing Postcrisis Policy Change: Crisis-Framing Strategies by Public Leaders in China
– with Yihong Liu
Existing research shows that post-crisis policy change in democracies is shaped by how crises are framed. Given structural political differences, it is unclear what role such framing plays in post-crisis policy change in authoritarian systems. This study adjusts the concept of crisis framing to authoritarian China and subsequently applies it to SARS, the Sichuan earthquake, and the H1N1 pandemic. The article shows that even though there are no competing frames, leaders in China do frame crises in different ways. We argue that if public leaders want to legitimate major post-crisis policy change, they simultaneously acknowledge the crisis, admit a malfunctioning status quo, and put forward explicit proposals for policy change. You’ll find the abstract below my signature and the full article attached. Published in Natural Hazards Review (2022).
The multiple streams framework in a non-democracy: The issue of live poultry sales in China
In response to calls to apply the multiple streams framework (MSF) to non-democracies, this project adapts the framework to an authoritarian context and applies it to a case study of live poultry sales in food markets in China, a key issue in epidemic prevention. Using a dataset consisting of Chinese policy documents, Chinese news articles, World Health Organization data, and secondary literature, the study shows that despite the public health threat posed by live poultry sales and despite high-level political support, a national-level permanent ban has not been adopted because it is technically infeasible, financially inviable, and inconsistent with existing norms and values. The study suggests that—despite the country’s top-down governance style and lack of political pluralism—policy preferences expressed by members of the policymaking elite are not necessarily adopted in authoritarian China. The article also identifies priority areas for future MSF research in authoritarian contexts. Published in Policy Studies Journal (2022). More on this topic in my blogpost for the Harvard Fairbank Center.
Never again: Legal change after public health crises in China
This project aims to explain how and why laws in China change after public health crises by analyzing three such cases, including the 2008 milk powder crisis, the emergence of A(H7N9) avian influenza in 2013, and an environmental accident involving thousands of dead pigs floating in Shanghai’s Huangpu River. Full text (PhD dissertation). Interview on this project (in Dutch).