Institutional Tension and Social Policy Adaptation in the Citizenization Process: A “Demand–Resource–Institution” Analytical Framework for Rural-to-Urban Migrants

Amid Asia’s rapid urbanization, integration of large-scale rural and urban migrant has become a core governance challenge. China has applied a protracted process aimed at citizenizing hundreds of millions of migrants; nevertheless, widespread “semi-urbanization” indicates a persistent gap exists between formal hukou conversion and real social inclusion. Using a social policy lens, we examine China as a critical case and the roles assigned to—and the institutional failures of—social policy in citizenization and propose a three-dimensional “demand–resource–institution” framework to pinpoint the main barriers to citizenship: structural ruptures in demand identification, resource allocation, and institutional design. Escaping “semi-urbanization” requires shifting from fragmented welfare provision to an integrated social-policy regime built on equal rights and inclusion. This analysis of China yields theoretical insights into state-led citizenization and a comparative policy reference for other developing Asian countries facing large-scale internal migration, rural–urban imbalance, and integration dilemmas.