Bridging Hierarchy and Network: Network Multiplexity in Multi-Level Policy Implementation in China

While network governance has been considered essential for public service delivery, how policy networks work in multi-level hierarchical systems is still understudied. Drawing on ideas about network multiplexity, this study examines the interplay between networks and hierarchy in the policy implementation of a recent educational reform targeting off-campus tutoring in China. Using the Haidian district in Beijing as a case, we employ data from policy documents to map a multiplex network understanding of relations between the actors involved in the implementation. The results illuminate the complex interplay of networks and hierarchy in policy implementation. The lenses of multiplexity allow a novel understanding of how actors are differently interconnected in the policy process network and policy issue network. Specifically, we show that the policy process network exhibits distinctively hierarchical characteristics, whereas the policy issue network highlights less hierarchical and more dispersed relations between actors.