Governance Innovation and Path Dependence

This chapter is based on the selection of reform policy tools and action routes of the governing party and government in megacities in grassroots social governance over the past 20 years. It discusses the functional institutional reforms adopted by major actors such as the governing party and government in the process of grassroots governance in stages, with mechanism reform as the core from four perspectives: structure, function, mechanism, and behaviour. The chapter shows the adjustment of the power structure of grassroots governance and presents the development of compound mechanisms used by the governing party in urban grassroots governance in the past decade including integration, embedding, absorption, and service. It also summarises the transformation of urban grassroots governance modes and its key characteristics of explicitation.