当代中国行业协会商会的政策影响力:制度环境与层级分化

The Policy Influence of Business Association in Contemporary China:The Institutional Context and the Hierarchical Variation

主流观点认为在中国行业协会商会类社会组织并不构成影响政府决策的制度性力量,但个案研究显示在特定情境中它们能够影响政策。但是,对行会商会在政策过程中角色的系统描述和解释尚不充分。基于既有文献,本文提出一种基于制度环境的假设:在制度建设自上而下推行的环境中,高层级的官僚制更为理性化,政府主动地提供更多的机会空间给行会商会;在低层级上,政府较少提供制度化的参政机会给予行会商会,官僚制更加倾向于封闭。利用一项抽样调查数据,本文验证了上述假设。(1)以被政府咨询意见的机会结构而言,省级行会商会显著高于地市级与区县级;(2)以对政策的实际影响力而言,省级>地市级>区县级;(3)本文还发现,凝聚力较高的协会具有更高的政策影响力。这些发现系统地呈现了社会利益能够成功地以制度化的方式输入政体的具体条件。基于此,本文主张政府应先向社会利益诉求开放更多机会空间与设置理性化的制度安排。

Although business associations in contemporary China do not construct a major play- er in the policy arena, case studies do reveal they can exert influence on policies in particular contexts. However, the general pattern and systematic variation of them still begs more discussion. Based on extant literature, this paper proposes the hypotheses on the hierarchical variation of busi- ness association in China. In the top-down reform context, the bureaucracy on the higher level is more rationalized in the sense the government would provide more opportunities for entrepreneurs group through initiating institutional arrangements. On the contrary, the local bureaucracy is more likely to employ direct interactions between government and entrepreneurs and thus riskier to be eroded by clientelistic networks. Using a survey data, this paper supports the hypotheses. Firstly, business associations from the provincial level are enjoying more political access than those from the lower level. Secondly, the provincial business associations are more influential on policy-decisions than the municipal level while the latter are more influential than those from county/district level. Thirdly, higher organizational cohesions contribute to political influence significantly. The above findings systematically displayed the conditions under which organized social interests can exert influence on the government. Based on these findings, the author argues more opportunities and rational institutions should be initiated by the government.