Making agile governance work: the community grid as a ‘safety valve’ institution during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for agile governance to effectively address and prevent future global crises. Scholars have examined China’s grid system and its application by local governments in controlling the spread of COVID-19. Our research supports these findings, and we further argue that the grid system enhances responsiveness, inclusiveness, and transparency in governance, thereby benefiting both the government and its citizens. Through a detailed case study of grid governance in the M District of Shanghai from July 2020 to August 2022, we explore the operational mechanisms of the grid system. By incorporating the safety valve theory, we propose that the community grid, the smallest administrative unit in China, functions as an institution to issue pre-emptive warnings, integrate communities, and alleviate pressures during times of crisis, contributing to governance agility. As grid governance has constantly been strengthened, this research not only advances our comprehension of the effectiveness of grassroots governance in China, but also offers valuable insights pertaining to crisis management in mega-cities worldwide.

Keywords:

• Agile governance
• community grid
• grid governance
• local government
• safety valve

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Gao and Yu, “Public Governance Mechanism”; Mansoor, “Citizens’ Trust in Government”; Zhou and Xin, “Who Are the Front-Runners?”; Klenk and Gurol, “The Role of Narratives”.

2 Ansell, Sørensen and Torfing, “The COVID-19 Pandemic”; Mergel, Ganapati and Whitford, “Agile”; Zhong, “Coordinated Co-governance and Grassroots Innovation”; Xi and Ratigan, “Treading Through COVID-19”.

3 Chatfield, Scholl and Brajawidagda, “Tsunami Early Warnings via Twitter in government”.

4 Zavattaro, French and Mohanty, “A Sentiment Analysis of U.S. Local Government Tweets”.

5 Yan and Xin, “Reforming Governance under Authoritarianism”; Li, Chandra and Fan, “Unpacking Government Social Media.”

6 Zhao and Wu, “Citizen–State Collaboration in Combating COVID-19 in China”; Petrovsky Xin and Yu, “Job Satisfaction and Citizen Satisfaction with Street-Level Bureaucrats.”

7 Wei et al., “COVID-19 Prevention and Control in China”; Zhu, Zhu and Jin, “Grid Governance in China under the COVID-19 Outbreak.”

8 Lappi and Aaltonen, “Project Governance in Public Sector Agile Software Projects”; Li, Chandra and Fan, “Unpacking Government Social Media”; Nuottila, Aaltonen and Kujala, “Challenges of Adopting Agile Methods in a Public Organization”.

9 Mergel, Ganapati and Whitford, “Agile”.

10 Hu, “Reorganization and Social Management Innovation in China”; Lin, “Intergovernmental Organizational Learning and Policy Reproduction”.

11 Mittelstaedt, “The Grid Management System in Contemporary China”; Zou and Zhao, “Neighbourhood Governance During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Hangzhou”.

12 Coser, “Social Conflict and the Theory of Social Change”; Hassid, “Safety Valve or Pressure Cooker?”.

13 Soe and Drechsler, “Agile Local Governments”.

14 Mergel, “Agile Innovation Management in Government”.

15 OECD, “Achieving Public Sector Agility at Times of Fiscal Consolidation”.

16 Ibid.

17 DeSeve, “Defining Agile Government”.

18 Mergel, Ganapati and Whitford, “Agile”.

19 Baldwin, Fighting the first wave; Mergel, Ganapati and Whitford, “Agile”; Soe and Drechsler, “Agile Local Governments”; Walker, Rahman and Cave, “Adaptive Policies, Policy Analysis, and Policy-Making”.

20 Chatfield, Scholl and Brajawidagda, “Tsunami Early Warnings via Twitter in Government”.

21 Zavattaro, French and Mohanty, “A Sentiment Analysis of U.S. Local Government Tweets”.

22 Li, Chandra and Fan, “Unpacking Government Social Media”.

23 Yu and Wang, “New Agenda for the Study of Chinese Governance”; Tang, “Grid Governance in China’s Urban Middle-Class Neighborhoods”.

24 Hu, “Reorganization and Social Management Innovation in China”.

25 Lin, “Intergovernmental Organizational Learning and Policy Reproduction”.

26 Sun and Yu, “Grid-Based Management Model Revisited”.

27 Tang, “Grid Governance in China’s Urban Middle-Class Neighborhoods”.

28 Mittelstaedt, “The Grid Management System in Contemporary China”.

29 Zhu, Zhu and Jin, “Grid Governance in China under the COVID-19 Outbreak”.

30 Chen and Xiao, “From Grid-Based Management to Network-Based Governance”.

31 Zou and Zhao, “Neighbourhood Governance During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Hangzhou”.

32 Coser, “Social Conflict and the Theory of Social Change”.

33 Ibid.

34 Hassid, “Safety Valve or Pressure Cooker?”.

35 Chen, “Review Essay”; Hassid, “Safety Valve or Pressure Cooker?”.

36 Coser, “Social Conflict and the Theory of Social Change”.

37 Yan and Xin, “Participatory Policy Making under Authoritarianism”; Kenny, “Covid-19 and Community Development”; Loewenson et al. “Beyond Command and Control”.

38 Miao, Schwarz and Schwarz, “Responding to COVID-19”; Zou and Zhao, “Neighbourhood Governance During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Hangzhou”.

39 Dyer and Wilkins, “Better Stories, Not Better Constructs, to Generate Better Theory”.

40 Levy, “Case Studies”; Yin, Case Study Research.

41 Yin, Case Study Research.

42 Qin and Owen, “The CCP, Campaign Governance and COVID-19.”

43 Ibid.

44 Xin and Chen, “Decentralized Governance and Collective Action Dilemma”.

45 Annual Report on Grid Management of M District of 2021. Internal document. Access date: 15 June 2021.

46 Interview with an official from the Civil Affairs Bureau of M District government on the composition of grid system. May 2021.

47 Interview with the grid chief of the ZT community of M District. May 2021.

48 Directives on Grid Governance of M District, issued on January 2015.

49 Interviews with personnel from responsible grids and microgrids during January to August 2021.

50 Interview with the grid chief of the DC community of JC Sub-District of M District. June 2022.

51 This occurs in three of the five grids we studied in the M District.

52 This actually occured with a rather low chance. All of the five grid managers we interviewed had been selected by their fellow residents.

53 Summarized from interviews of managers of three responsible grids during January to August 2021.

54 Directives on Grid Governance of M District, issued on January 2015.

55 Internal document on How to manage the community of the ZW Sub-District in the pandemic.

56 Interviews with residents in the ZW Sub-District. XZ Township and MQ Township of M District.

57 Grid managers often need to seek approval from the neighbourhood community or even public health agencies for defining the type of risk.

58 Interview with the deputy head of the information office of ZW Sub-District of M District on 2 July 2021.

59 This number is calculated by interviews with the chiefs and managers of various grids from July 2021 to June 2022.

60 Summarized from interviews of managers of two microgrids and one responsible grid in July and August 2021.

61 Interview with the grid chief and manager in the DC community of JC Sub-District in July 2022.

62 Guo and Jiang, “China’s ‘New Normal’”; Ma and Wu, “Citizen Engagement and Co-Production of e-Government Services in China”; Schmitter, “Defining, Explaining and, then, Exploiting the Elusive Concept Of ‘Governance’”; Guo, “Research on the Relationship Between the Sixth Industry and Social Governance”; Xin, “What Contributes to the Formation of Stable Collaborative Water Governance?” Xin and Huang, “Party Building in an Unlikely Place?”.

63 The “1 + N” mode of management is mentioned by a few interviewees, but they are ambiguous in defining the N.

64 For research on NGOs in Shanghai, see Song, “Surviving the Pandemic”; Song, “How Outsourcing Social Services to NGOs Bolsters Political Trust in China”.

65 Interview with the grid chief of the BY Community of ZW Sub-District in July 2022.

66 Crossed-checked by interviews with grid managers and grid workers in ZW Sub-district and XZ Township of M District. May-June 2022.

67 Manuals on Grid Management Process of M District (3rd Edition). March 2020.

68 Li and Ergenc, “Party-Led Public Participation in Neighborhood Governance”; Yan and Xin, “Participatory Policy Making under Authoritarianism”; Zou and Zhao, “Neighbourhood Governance During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Hangzhou”.

69 Kung, Cai and Sun, “Rural Cadres and Governance in China”; Huang and Xin, “To Get Rich Is Glorious”.

70 Interview with the head of the Party-Mass Office of ZW Sub-District and other community leaders in May 2021.

71 Field observations in the DC community of M District from April to May 2022.

72 Inteview with the grid chief and grid manager of the DC community of M District. July 2022.

73 Report on Grid Management of M District of 2022. Internal document. Access date: 15 June 2023.

74 Interview with residents of the HD community of ZW Sub-District. July 2022.

75 Manuals on Grid Management Process of M District (3rd Edition). March 2020.

76 Soe and Drechsler, “Agile Local Governments”; Mergel, Ganapati and Whitford, “Agile”.

77 Zhan and Qin, “The Art of Political Ambiguity”; Liu, Xin and Yi, “Information Asymmetry and Vertical Collective Action Dilemma”.

78 Interview with the grid managers of the HD community of ZW Sub-District and the DC community of JC Sub-District in June to July 2022.

79 Interview with the section chief of the Department of Urban Affairs of M District. 10 August 2021.

80 These five tasks are not listed in the grid manager’s job description, but are summarized from our interviews with grid chiefs, grid managers, and citizens. July 2021 to June 2022.

81 Interview with the grid manager of the HD community of ZW Sub-District of M District. June 2022.

82 Interview with the grid chief of the DC community of JC Sub-District of M District. July 2022.

83 Interview with a resident from the BY community of ZW Sub-District. August 2022.

84 Interview of grid managers and citizens of M District. April to July 2022.

85 Report on Grid Management of M District of 2022. Access date: 15 June 2023.

86 Linders, “From e-Government to We-Government”.

87 Clarke, “Digital Government Units”.

88 Mergel, Ganapati and Whitford, “Agile”.

89 Paulin, Smart City Governance; Mergel, Ganapati and Whitford, “Agile”.

90 Xin and Chen. “Decentralized Governance and Collective Action Dilemma”; Liu, Xin and Yi, “Information Asymmetry and Vertical Collective Action Dilemma”.

91 Mittelstaedt, “The Grid Management System in Contemporary China”; Zhu, Zhu and Jin, “Grid Governance in China under the COVID-19 Outbreak”.

92 For exmaple, see Zou and Zhao, “Neighbourhood Governance During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Hangzhou”.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Weizhan Meng

Weizhan Meng is an assistant research professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Social Sciences, Fudan University, China. His research interests lie in domestic politics and foreign affairs of China. He got PhD program at the University of Hong Kong in 2018. He publishes articles in the Washington Quarterly, International Relations of the Asia-Pacific and the Pacific Review.

Feng Wang

Feng Wang is an assistant professor in the China Public Finance Institute and School of Public Economics and Administration at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. His research interests are bureaucratic governance, public finance and public-private partnerships. His work has been published in quality journals such as Public Administration.

Ge Xin

Ge Xin is an associate professor of politics and public administration at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. His research focuses on comparative political institutions and state-society relations. His work has been published in quality journals such as Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, International Political Science Review, Journal of Contemporary China, Chinese Journal of Political Science, Policy and Politics, among others.