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HKUST Public Policy Bulletin Issue No.14

A large-scale field experiment on participatory decision-making in China

 

Jueyu WU, Sherry, Michael MAI, Ke, ZHUANG, MING, Fangxin YI

 

 

The rapid expansion of participatory governance initiatives in centralized regimes has sparked debate over their capacity to enhance civic engagement and government accountability. This study investigates the effects of participatory decision-making within participatory budgeting in China with centralized regimes with participatory governance approaches. Drawing on one of the world’s largest participatory budgeting interventions, reaching over 20 million residents, the research examines whether localized democratic practices can cultivate responsive citizenship or, conversely, reinforce authoritarian resilience.

 

By assessing behavioural and attitudinal changes six months after the intervention, the study provides causal evidence on how community-level participation influences broader civic engagement, perceptions of governmental performance, and accountability-seeking behaviour. The findings suggest that participatory budgeting can generate measurable increases in non-budgetrelated civic actions and demands for improvement from the central government, while simultaneously boosting satisfaction with national policies and local economic conditions..

 

These results hold important implications for policymakers, development practitioners, and governance reform advocates. They highlight both the opportunities and risks of integrating democratic practices into centralized governance structures, and underscore the need for careful design of participatory institutions to ensure they foster genuine civic empowerment rather than symbolic engagement

     

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    Authors

    Sherry Jueyu WU is an Associate Professor of the Division of Public Policy
    at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where he also serves as the Acting Director of the Institute for Public Policy. He specializes in policy process theories, policy innovation, and social policy. He has been ranked as the world’s top 2% most cited scientists since 2021.

    Ke Michael MAI is an Associate Professor in the Urban Governance and Design Thrust at the Society Hub of HKUST (GZ). Her research interests include Urban studies, social stratification, and population migration. Her research outputs were published in high-profile journals. Recently, she has been working on urban studies that emphasise interdisciplinary socio-spatial comparative analysis, knowledge transfer, and social impact.

    Ming ZHUANG is an associate researcher at Chengdu Academy of Social Sciences, providing policy and governance consultancy for local governments. His unique expertise stems from two decades of field work as the founder of the Social Equity and Participation Center, a mainland China-based NGO, working on citizen engagement and social justice. His recent research and field projects combine this handson experience with his academic background, focusing on digital democracy, mass deliberation, and public engagement in AI governance

    Fangxin YI is a research assistant professor at the Division of Public Policy, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Her research focuses on urban development and policy, disaster governance and resilient cities, risk management and analysis, participatory governance, and AI-driven governance. She adopts interdisciplinary approaches to address pressing challenges at the intersection of technology, policy, and urban systems. Her applied research bridges academic insights with real-world governance challenges.

     

    Further reading

    Wu, S.J., Mai, K.M., Zhuang, M. et al. A large-scale field experiment on participatory decision-making in China. Nature Human Behaviour 8, 2119–2126 (2024).