英文摘要 |
Under the stimulus of ‘small state, big society' and the Super-MinistrySystem reform, the central and local governments in China have loosened their civil organization registration system since 2006 in order to increase the number of and to broaden the range in their civil organizations, hoping to fill the gaps left by the downsized state and to activate these civil organizations' participation in social and economic affaires. In path creation, change in institutions results from entrepreneurial agency rather than the continuity of path dependence. To disembed from existing structures, entrepreneurs would react by creating new paths in motion in real time. This shows a process of ‘mindful deviation', the heart of path-creation. This current study applies path creation to exploring the transformation process of China's civil organization registration system since 1949, which went from a disorder management, a strict dual management system to as implified integration registration. The process demonstrates a deviation from an existing path to an innovated one. While the result of integrated registration is limited and thus in a sub-optimal situation, the process reveals a fact that institutional entrepreneurs are able to manipulate strategies to enact in real time and to become disembeded from the structure of ‘big state, small society'. This process fits the definition of mindful deviation in path creation. |