Powers and Functions of Cooperative Organizations between Local Governments in China

The decentralization reform and open policy in China have led to the rapid development of local government cooperation. There are several underlying reasons for the emergence of cooperative organization between local governments, namely clear demand for cooperation, clear willingness to cooperate, and obvious benefits of cooperation. The current cooperative organization of local governments has the following problems: The power is unclear; it is lacking of stability and cooperative activities as well as in continuity; the leadership is not clear; there are no appropriate cost-sharing and benefit-sharing mechanisms. In order to solve these, problems, we should reconsider the powers and functions of cooperative organizations. In the future, the cooperative organizations will become quasi-administrative agencies with limited administrative powers, multiple leaderships, and clear rules about distribution of benefits.