Chinese Public Policy Innovation and the Diffusion of Innovations: An Initial Exploration

In a rapidly changing country such as China, how to promote public Policy innovation is an especially critical issue. Understanding how and when innovation occurs, and how and when innovations spread to other jurisdictions, is vitally important if the goal of spurring greater innovation is to be achieved. This article examines one particularly interesting case of policy innovation in China, the development of the “Service Promise System” in the city of Yantai. The analysis of this Case will provide the basis for a more theoretical discussion that combines insights from the Western literature on the topic with the specific characteristics of the Chinese administrative system. One of the key aims is to sketch out an agenda for future research.