This article interrogates the operating logic of China’s street-level regulatory state, demonstrating that
Residents’ Committees (RCs) assume a role as regulatory intermediaries to enhance the efficiency of
local governance. Using Shanghai’s new recycling regulations as a case study, it explores the
mechanisms by which RCs elicit ...
This article interrogates the operating logic of China’s street-level regulatory state, demonstrating that
Residents’ Committees (RCs) assume a role as regulatory intermediaries to enhance the efficiency of
local governance. Using Shanghai’s new recycling regulations as a case study, it explores the
mechanisms by which RCs elicit not only citizens’ compliance but also active participation. We show
that the central mechanisms derive from RCs’ skilful mobilisation of the social forces, namely mianzi
and guanxi, that are produced within close-knit social networks inside Shanghai’s housing estates
(xiaoqu). We advance three arguments in the study of China's emerging regulatory state. First, we show
how informal social forces are employed in regulatory governance at the street level, combine
authoritarian control with grass-roots participation. Second, the focus on RCs as regulatory
intermediaries reveals the important role played by these street-level administrative units play in policy
implementation. Third, we suggest that the RC’s harnessing of informal social forces is essential not
only for the successful policy implementation at the street level, but also for the production of the local
state’s political legitimacy.