Wan, X. (2015) Changing governmentalities of Neighborhood Governance in China: a Genealogical Exploration. Critical Policy Studies. ISSN 1946-0171
Abstract
This paper addresses the fundamental question about the ‘becoming’ of the landscape of China’s neighborhood governance. Based on a governmentality framework, it carries out a genealogical review on the neighborhood governance in the Feudal dynasties, Maoist era and post-Maoist era and summarizes the connection between the historical and current governmental rationalities, government technologies and the formation of subjectivities. The conclusion indicates that spatial practice and social norm have always been regarded by Chinese governors as the main approaches to legitimize and consolidate their regimes at the neighborhood level, although different governments used different technologies to design and organize neighborhoods. The rationality of segmenting urban space into administrative unit was inherited by the Maoist government to design enclosed ‘Dan-wei’ compounds and used by the current government to demarcate the boundary of ‘She-qu’ neighborhood as well as implement ‘Wang-ge’ management. The Feudal rituals and Socialist norms on the other hand, shaped hierarchy-respecting and collective subjectivities and to a large extent regulated Chinese people’s behaviors and facilitated the government’s practices. This paper concludes by pointing out that as the fragmenting Chinese society and hybrid government technologies shape diverse, multifaceted and ambiguous subjects, the government will confront more challenges on neighborhood governance.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2015 Taylor & Francis. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Critical Policy Studies. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | neighborhood governance, governmentality, governmental rationalities, government technologies, subjectivity |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Urban Studies & Planning (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 04 May 2015 13:03 |
Last Modified: | 12 Nov 2016 14:18 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19460171.2015.1005109 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Taylor & Francis |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/19460171.2015.1005109 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:83314 |