Work

Faced with Information Overload: What Citizen Input Receives Leaders’ Attention in Authoritarian China

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Authoritarian regimes use participatory institutions to gather information from citizens, but the gathered information is often overwhelming. To examine what receives leaders’ attention amid this overload, we analyzed communications from two Chinese e-government platforms that published local Party and government heads’ written instructions (pishi) in response to individual citizen submissions. After classifying them using supervised machine learning, we found that these leaders placed greater emphasis on policy areas such as malfeasance, welfare, labor, environment, and business. They also focused more on citizen complaints and suggestions than inquiries. These findings highlight the types of input political leaders prioritize in authoritarian regimes.

Source: Problems of Post-Communism

DOI: 10.1080/10758216.2025.2490926

Authors: Yue Guan, Christian Göbel

Institutions: Aarhus University, University of Vienna

Language: English

Topic: China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance

Subfield: Political Science and International Relations

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: European Research Council, H2020 European Research Council