Loss and Reconstruction —— A Study on the Technical Restoration of Primary-level Governmental Authority

With the functional focus of the primary-level government is shifting from “economic growth” to “public governance”,the quantity and responsibility of the public affairs are expanding simultaneously,which brings about the loss of governmental capacity under the involving of vertical power.Compared with the “regime suspension” caused by the collapse of the interest correlation between the primary-level regime and the society during the tax reform period,the current dilemma is manifested as the loss of the primary-level regime’s authority.The analysis shows that the primary-level government is faced with structural obstacles such as tiao-kuai relationship,territorial management and government-community relationship.Based on a case study in Shanghai,this paper analyzes the process and mechanism of digital governance platform to restore the authority and rebuild the capacity of primay-level govenment.The research shows that the digital technology can effectively repair the loss of authority by replacing the bureaucratic rules with technical rules and produce information discretion.Technological restoration has three mechanisms,such as superior-level pressure balance,territorial authority reintegration and social resources absorption.Further discussion reveals that primary-level government can partially reconfigure the governmental process through technology.However,substantive reengineering of primary-level governance capacity requires deeper response of institutional reform.