Research on the Reform Path of Sub-district Offices from the Perspective of Holistic Governance—A Case Study of Bijiashan Sub-district Office in the Shushan District of Hefei City, Anhui Province

Abstract

As the key subject of grassroots governance, sub-district offices are imperative to the society’s smooth operation and cities’ healthy development. In practical grassroots governance, sub-district offices inevitably have some drawbacks, such as jumbled institutions, chaotic personnel, and inefficient function implementation, overlapping other organizations or institutions with unclear rights and responsibilities. From the perspective of holistic governance, this paper takes the reform of the Bijiashan Subdistrict Office in the Shushan District of Hefei City as a research case, exploring its reform path and summarizing its practical achievements. After the reform of the Bijiashan Sub-district Office, the structure of horizontal departments is reorganized, and the functions are optimized. In addition, the responsibilities and relationships of its vertical departments turn clear, with the unimpeded instructions issued by the Party Committee. Besides, the feedback from grassroots governance becomes timely and effective, which constitutes a new pattern characterized by “communication from top to bottom, horizontal linkage, stereo alternation, and collaborative governance”. As an epitome of grassroots governance, the reform of the Bijiashan Sub-district Office is helpful to improve and develop the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity.