Implementing foreign investment policy in China: the role of experimentation

It has been argued among some Western political scientists whether experimentation can be regarded as an effective strategy for public policy implementation. This strategy, however, has long been a practice by the leadership in P.R. China in its policy formulation and implementation. This thesis is a case study on how post-Mao Chinese leaders have used the experimentalist approach in implementing the policy made in the late 1970s to utilize foreign direct investment for China's modernization program. The study traces the implementation program from 1979 to 1988 by breaking it down longitudinally to four phases; it tries to show that Chinese leaders have used each of these phases of implementation as a pilot project for experimenting with the new investment policy. The study intends to provide a concrete case, within the context of a socialist country, to address the issue concerning the legitimacy of experimentation and adaptation as implementation strategies.

The study indicates that the experimentalist strategy has helped China develop the program to implement the investment policy. It has enabled China to try aggressively a new policy while maintaining firm control over its consequences. It also shows that the strategy is not without constraints, one of them being the tendency for reflective thought coming after compulsive acts. The study concludes that one should regard experimentation and adaptation as legitimate strategies for policy implementation although caution should be exercised when one is engaged in such an approach.