The Evolution of Party‒Government Relations and the Impact on Decision-Making in China

The administrative decision-making of the Chinese government needs to be understood from the perspective of the relationship between the Party and the government.Since the reform and opening-up period, this relationship has transformed from a unified Party-government structure to the separation of the Party and the government, followed by the strengthening of the Party's comprehensive and centralized leadership.This transformation has influenced the administrative decision-making system of the Chinese government.In this paper, we describe and analyze this transformation process and its impact on the government's decision-making system.The research indicates that the mainstream model is one where the Party and the government are organizationally separate but functionally integrated.Both the Party and the government have their own decision-making systems: the Party operates under a collective deliberation system, while the government follows a system of individual responsibility led by its head.Owing to the functional integration of the Party and the government, as well as the Party's leadership position and significant role in the decision-making process, the Chinese government in practice operates under a decision-making system that combines both the individual responsibility system and the collective deliberation system.However, the way in which these two systems are integrated varies across different local governments.Overall, this system helps the Party exercise leadership over major decision-making issues but also raises concerns about decision-making efficiency and accountability.