Why Did China’s Zero-COVID Policy Persist? Decision Urgency, Regime Type, and Political Opportunity Structures
Shu Keng, Lingna Zhong, Fang Xie
Abstract
Despite soaring social costs, opposed professional opinions, and divergent foreign experiences, China still persisted with its Zero-COVID policy. Preexisting theories of policy change are unable to explain the continuation of China’s COVID policy. Corresponding to the three stages of policy making, implementation and adjustment, the authors propose a framework of three decision-making constraints: (1) decision urgency, (2) regime type, and (3) political opportunity structures, which are believed to jointly shape China’s policy against Omicron and obstruct Chinese decision-makers from adjusting it. This intensive case study enriches understanding of China’s COVID policy specifically and the policy process in China more generally.