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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Policy
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1417832
This article is part of the Research Topic Maximizing Local Government Impact on Community Health Initiatives View all 4 articles

How to implement pairing assistance during fighting COVID-19 in China：Collaborative governance between local governments under the authoritative regulation

Provisionally accepted
Changwei Wei Changwei Wei 1*Jiaxi Xu Jiaxi Xu 2*Zhixiang Wang Zhixiang Wang 3Huangyue Wu Huangyue Wu 1Juan Wang Juan Wang 1
  • 1 China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, China
  • 2 Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China
  • 3 Jilin University, Changchun, Hebei Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The pairing assistance policy represents a distinctive instrument utilized by the Chinese government to address major public crises. This study examines the development of a pairing assistance policy by the Chinese Government through its central authority to foster collaborative governance among local governments in areas affected by COVID-19. Methods: The aim of the study was to gain a clear understanding of how the policy of pairing assistance in public health emergencies is successfully implemented through the top-down application of authority. A case study design was used as a methodology to present an explanatory framework for implementing pairing assistance policies during major public crises. We focus on the operational process of pairing assistance, using the assistance provided by Jiangsu Province to Huangshi City in Hubei Province as an illustration. Results: This paper finds that responding to a crisis requires the guidance of a central authority and the cooperation of local governments. The process is driven by three key factors: the vertical intervention of the crisis, the inevitability of horizontal cooperation and the policy allocation and incentives of the bureaucracy. The three stages of cooperative governance based on authoritative regulation work together in a step-by-step manner to enhance the effectiveness of crisis response.The results of the study indicate that collaborative governance under the authoritative regulation is the main reason why provincial counterpart support mechanism plays a great role in COVID-19. This study is the first to approach the study of pairing assistance from the perspective of government authority. It broadens the research horizon of local government cooperation and provides a model for future collaboration.

    Keywords: Authoritative regulation, collaborative governance, Pairing assistance, COVID-19, Public crisis

    Received: 15 Apr 2024; Accepted: 27 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wei, Xu, Wang, Wu and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Changwei Wei, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, China
    Jiaxi Xu, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, Hubei Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.