Abstract:
Politicians impose constraints on their own power in efforts to consolidate power. In the literature on institutional constraints, leaders constrain their own power in exchange for support from the masses or capitalists, or to protect against future policy changes. In this article, we explore why municipal governments sometimes constrain their power over urban development, the key locus of municipal power (and municipal officials’ personal rents) in rapidly urbanizing China. We contend that officials in the municipality seek to constrain their power in order to increase their autonomy against meddling from above. They are able to wrest autonomy by framing their institutional innovations as good governance reforms.
