Resources, Discourse, and Action: The Operational Logic of Collaborative Governance Among Urban Community Organizations in China

Abstract

The governance system of Chinese urban communities has undergone continuous reconstruction in the rapid social transformation. The rise of diverse governance entities has led to an increasing complexity in the field of community governance. How to coordinate community organizations with different statuses, resources, and action logics to achieve effective governance has become a core issue that urgently needs to be addressed. Within conventional state-society dichotomies in existing literature, this article proposes an analytical framework of “resources- discourse-action”, which is integrated with Giddens’ structured theory to examine the interaction and collaboration mechanisms between grassroots community organizations in cities. Through long-term ethnographic research on multiple communities in Shanghai, this article found that although there is a significant asymmetry in resource endowment between primary-level Party organizations and neighborhood committees, homeowner committees, property management companies, and community self-organization, they ultimately achieve a “differential equilibrium” through a complex exchange mechanism embedded in formal institutions and informal practices. The findings of this study have deepened the understanding of the micro-mechanisms of collaborative governance in Chinese urban communities during the transition period, unveiled the underlying logic of multi-stakeholder governance, and offered fresh empirical and theoretical insights into the cooperation between the government and grassroots society.