Zhilin Liu (Tsinghua University Public Policy Institute)

Campaign-style enforcement is often touted in China as a uniquely effective mechanism to ensure local implementation of national policies. Typically seen in regulatory policies but later extended to social policies, campaign-style enforcement features strong political mandates with numeric targets, massive mobilization of fiscal and administrative resources, and political performance evaluation rooted in China’s hierarchical governmental system. Dr. Liu and her research collaborators’ mixed-method analysis of the national affordable housing mandate during the Twelfth-Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) reveals a nuanced process in which cities adapt the top-down housing mandate to local conditions, thereby leading to a diversity of compliance strategies adopted by local governments.