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| “Data Formalism” in the Grassroots： Expressions， Causes and Solutions |
| Zhao Tan |
| (School of Public Administration and Policy， Renmin University of China， Beijing 100086) |
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Abstract The grassroots formalism is the emphasis on superficial forms in policy implementation whereas ignoring the actual effects and outcomes. At present， the formalism that both the government and academia are concerned about mainly occurs in the grassroots government's daily activities or routinized procedures， such as conferences， documents， supervision and inspection. However， the fieldwork in several places reveals that， there exists another form of formalism that is common in the internal operation of the government system， which aims to deal with the indicators and tasks with clear numerical or quantitative requirements in the assessment， that is， “data formalism”. “Data formalism” occurs when the grassroots governments devise a variety of informal methods to “meet the required data” for the sake of the data without any substantial effect. Meanwhile， those informal methods would cause a waste of government resources， increase the grassroots burden， harm the government's public image， and even potentially influence the policy-making process in the higher-level government. The key to restrain “data formalism” lies in clarifying the scope of responsibilities of grassroots governments and comprehensively employing a variety of evaluation methods to avoid “data-only” assessment results.
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Received: 03 April 2025
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2025, Vol. 64 
