ABSTRACT
In the anti-corruption environment of the past decade, many Chinese local states have seen rising social accountability innovations encouraging public supervision of government. Past research mostly focuses on the procedural designs of these innovations but largely overlooked the contexts within which innovations take place. This chapter examines the contextual drivers to the rise of social accountability innovations in contemporary China. Drawing on the case of public supervision innovations in multi-sited fieldwork, this study argues that social accountability is not solely driven by either the state or society, but it requires reciprocal interaction involving initiatives of both. This chapter contributes to a better understanding of China’s social accountability development in its full dynamism and heterogeneity.
