ABSTRACT
This chapter starts with a review of the literature on policy transformation and variation in local implementation – both globally and in rural China – and outlines the key ways in which heterogeneous implementation is conceptualised with regard to development policy. The chapter then turns to examine the ways in which differentiated financial landscapes, pressures, and incentives, have been internalised and interpreted very differently by implementers across the three townships. This is followed by an analysis of local policy interpretation and implementation from a relational perspective. The chapter concludes by pointing out that heterogeneous implementation is ultimately a reflection of relational dynamics at different levels, which has serious implications for the role that external interventions play in local development.
