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Leaders’ directives are a formal means of governance in authoritarian states. While government responsiveness to the public is a core normative concept of democratic theory, this concept has typically not been a core value of authoritative states. However, in China, to improve government responsiveness, leaders’ directives have been used to mandate local governments to create online public comment forums and formally respond to submitted comments from the public. This article empirically examines whether leaders’ directives are effective in promoting local government responsiveness and public participation. To test the study’s hypotheses, we collect data from the Local Government Demand Board (LGDB) on public demands and government responses of 214 county-level entities in two provinces from 2011 to 2017. Using the difference-in-difference method, we find that provincial leaders’ directives in China have raised local government response to the public. We also find that when provincial political elites promote public expression of opinions by using leaders’ directives, the Chinese public responds positively to these signals.

Can regional decrees improve government responsiveness? An empirical study of leaders' directives and local government responses in China