The community is the basic living and social organization unit of China's residents, and grassroots social governance is an important issue that the party and the state attach great importance to and are closely related to the people's lives. In April 2021, the "Opinions of the Communist Party of China on Strengthening the Modernization of the Grassroots Governance System and Governance Capacity" was promulgated, which put forward the requirements of "improving the grassroots governance mechanism of normalized management and dynamic connection of emergency management". It can be seen that effective response to emergency crisis events and risks is one of the important goals of grassroots social governance. With the universalization of population migration and non-local settlement, the diversity of types and needs of residents within the community has increased, and the possibility of conflicts between residents has increased. Therefore, the current grassroots governance needs to effectively respond to the crisis of the external environment, and also respond to the diverse living needs of residents in the community in a timely manner. This kind of governance goal of maintaining stability in the face of crises and contradictions and being able to adapt to changes in the external environment is "resilience". Therefore, improving the resilience of grassroots governance is one of the important ways to modernize the grassroots governance system and governance capacity.
In terms of the ways and means of grassroots governance, various digital technologies such as big data, algorithms, and platforms have gradually been introduced into people's daily lives, which has had an important impact on the innovation of community governance. The "14th Five-Year Plan for the Construction of Urban and Rural Community Service System" issued in December 2021 proposes to "accelerate the digitalization of community services";In May 2022, nine departments, including the Ministry of Civil Affairs, issued the "Opinions on Deepening the Construction of Smart Communities", further putting forward suggestions on digital governance such as "building a smart community platform and expanding smart community governance scenarios". Compared with the governance mode of offline communication and information transmission with cadres as the main body, digital technology has the functions and characteristics of high information transmission efficiency, process standardization, and resource integration. The coupling of digital technology and grassroots governance has injected new opportunities into the improvement of grassroots governance capacity and the realization of the goal of "resilient" governance, and the construction of a digital grassroots governance system has also become an important way to improve the "resilience" of grassroots society.
Explore digital governance paths based on the characteristics of the community.
In China, there are great differences between different regions, cities and villages in terms of administrative and economic resources, social organization characteristics, cultural traditions, etc., and the composition of social governance elements is rich and diverse, on this basis, community types with different characteristics are formed. For different types of communities, the social and cultural foundations of grassroots governance have different characteristics, and the problems and challenges faced in the process of grassroots governance are also different. Therefore, in all stages of using digital technology to carry out grassroots community governance, these differentiated institutional cultures, social organization forms and group characteristics should be considered, and on this basis, governance models adapted to different realities should be explored.
The abundance of administrative resources is a major factor affecting the application of digital technology in grassroots governance. In communities with abundant administrative resources and top-down directives as the main governance policy, the use of digital technology to improve the administrative efficiency of governance and enhance the flexibility of the community to respond to various events and environments is the main direction. The author's research in a second-tier city in the south found that ** introduced a digital platform with efficient upload and distribution functions at all levels and links of grassroots governance, and sent the instructions of the street to each community through the platform, and each community uploaded it through the platform after completing the task. Compared with verbal notices or meetings, this process improves the efficiency of information transmission, improves the standardization and standardization of the supervision process, and combines digital technology with the administrative system of grassroots communities to empower administrative directive governance. For communities with scarce administrative resources, such as remote rural communities, ** and grassroots cadres have weak control over the community, and due to geographical location, villages often do not respond effectively to crisis events and have weak emergency response systems. Therefore, the local government should adopt digital means that can strengthen the control of village cadres over the grassroots level and give full play to the governance power of "capable people" such as village sages, so as to build a community governance system with control and flexibility. The author's research found that a digital platform gave village cadres the power to convert various tasks assigned by the street into different values, assign them to the cadres in charge, and score the completion of the tasks. This approach strengthens the village cadres' grasp of the village, which in turn enhances the village's ability to concentrate its efforts on dealing with risks.
The forces of social self-organization also have an important impact on the way digital technologies are used. In places where residents have a high degree of participation in community affairs and social organizations and private enterprises are more involved in community governance, how to use digital technology to coordinate the forces of these different governance entities has become a key issue. The author's research in a second-tier city in the south found that the digital platform of a street in the city incorporated the party organizations of different social organizations, private enterprises and units around the community into the platform, and built a resource library. When the community is faced with an emergency crisis, community cadres can use the platform to efficiently and timely mobilize the superior resources of different organizations to provide services and help to the communityIn the day-to-day period, these organizations can also participate in the process of grassroots governance to meet the diverse needs of residents. This not only has the governance effect of "combining peacetime and wartime", but also forms a governance community with both control and precision centered on community party building. In communities where social organizations and other units have a low degree of participation in governance, digital technology should mobilize the community's original self-organization. For example, corridor chiefs, grid members, etc., mobilize grassroots people through these governance forces, and enhance the awareness of governance community in the face of crisis events.
Promote the integration of digital technology and grassroots governance
Digital technology is an important driving force for grassroots governance innovation. In order to better promote the combination of digital technology and grassroots governance, and then build a resilient governance system for grassroots communities to respond to different environments and events, the author puts forward the following three suggestions.
First, improve the digital literacy of grassroots cadres. Compared with the first-class cadres in towns and streets, districts and counties and higher-level cadres, the administrative personnel who undertake the task of grassroots community governance are generally older, less educated, and more traditional, and their acceptance and adaptability to technology need to be improved. This has hindered the application and promotion of digital platforms in the process of grassroots governance, especially in some rural areas. Therefore, the author believes that the application and promotion of digital platforms in grassroots governance need to pay attention to the digital literacy of platform users, and provide training for these cadre groups through the introduction and docking of enterprises, enterprises and other social forces, improve their digital skills, help them establish digital awareness, and lay the foundation for the application of digital technology.
Second, balance the scale of intervention of digital tools. The process of governance is closely related to people, and the core of technology is also to serve people. When applying digital tools in governance, it is important to be aware of the risks that overuse poses a wide range of risks at the grassroots level. Digital technologies can lead to "matter-oriented" and uniform governance that ignores differences between different communities;It can also lead to formalistic behavior and weaken the spontaneous motivation of cadres to serve the residents. Therefore, in the process of promoting the digitalization of grassroots governance, we should always uphold the principle of "people-oriented", understand the actual needs of the people, adapt to the social environment, open up top-down and bottom-up communication channels for social conditions and public opinions, and give full play to the role of digitalization in accurately matching services and residents' needs.
Third, we need to promote the coordinated development of digital development and governance transformation. In the current process of grassroots governance, there is a mismatch between the application of digital technology and the governance foundation and governance concept, which may restrict the normal function of digital technology or have a negative impact on the original form of governance. There are various types of communities in China, and the promotion of digitalization of grassroots governance should be based on the different organizational foundations, digital awareness and governance forms of grassroots communities, and the transformation of governance mechanisms and governance concepts should be coordinated with digital technology to promote the organic combination of the two, so as to truly establish an effective and lasting grassroots resilience governance system.
Article**: China Social Science Net-China Social Science Daily.
He Xiaobin is a tenured associate professor at the School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, and director of the County Governance Research Center