ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the basic characteristics of China's public policy processes, including efforts to increase public participation. In most general terms, China's public policy processes involve two separate policy-making and implementation structures: that of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that of the government. China's public-policy-making system demonstrates a slightly pluralistic and multilayered structure, even as the Central Committee of the CCP sits as China's top authority and the State Council sits at the top of the administration pyramid. Consensus for public policy is usually required among the CCP, the government, and the People's Congress. Policy-making organizations have been called upon to establish participatory institutions such as public hearings on major issues of public interest to avoid arbitrary policy making. Citizens can express their policy preferences in quite a few informal ways, such as all kinds of protests, persuasion through interpersonal channels, and use of the Internet to disclose information or grievances.
