ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Polit. Sci.
Sec. Political Participation
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpos.2025.1599347
This article is part of the Research TopicExploring the Global Erosion of Democracy: Understanding Multicausal Threats and International DynamicsView all 4 articles
How Online Focusing Events Influence Policy Agenda Setting in China: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis
Provisionally accepted
Miao Li1
Zhihao Ma2*- 1Tsinghua Uiversity, Beijing, China
- 2University of York, York, United Kingdom
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Policy agenda-setting is a crucial indicator of a political system's nature and openness, reflecting the political attitudes and value orientations of its decision-makers. In China's authoritarian context, where centralised control and strategic governance dominate, the rise of online political engagement has made Internet-based focusing events key drivers in shaping policy agendas. This study examines how these events influence policy prioritisation within the Chinese political system. Utilising Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), this research develops a framework that incorporates 'actor-driven' and 'opportunity-coupling' factors to explore the impact of these events on policy formulation. The findings reveal that the Chinese government strategically manages its responsiveness to public discourse, aligning policy shifts with broader state objectives. By analysing the dynamics of policy-setting in China's digital age, this study enhances the understanding of how authoritarian resilience is maintained through the interaction between state control and online public engagement.
Keywords: Policy agenda setting, Authoritarian systems, China, Qualitative Comparative Analysis, online focusing events
Received: 24 Mar 2025; Accepted: 02 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li and Ma. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zhihao Ma, University of York, York, United Kingdom
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