Research on transformation from “paired assistance” to “collaborative networks” in post-disaster recovery of 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake, China

Long-term outcomes and collaborative governance are particularly worthy of discussion when examining the recovery process from natural disasters. In the long and dynamic processes of recovery, how do the primary participants responsible for recovery adapt and change to meet social and economic objectives? This paper argues that the approach to recovery following the Wenchuan Earthquake in China experienced a transformation from paired assistance under centralized political mobilization to collaborative networks. Based on an in-depth case study of the Shanghai–Dujiangyan Paired Assistance Policy, we find that recovery from the Wenchuan Earthquake can be demarcated and described in terms of three stages involving government-oriented project aid, contract-oriented industrial redevelopment, and network-oriented collaborative governance. Four determinants contributed to these transformation processes: (1) The central government was promoted as the responsible entity for guiding recovery efforts from the catastrophe, and the effective political mobilization under the Paired Assistance Policy (PAP) and interactions between subnational assisting governments ensured the timeliness, diversity, and quality of aid projects; (2) industry recovery policies provided the policy environment for enterprises to participate in industrial recovery, and beneficial reciprocity became the key attraction for outside private enterprises to participate in the industrial recovery of Dujiangyan; (3) the participation of social organizations as emergent organizations in the recovery contributed to the formation of collaborative networks; and (4) the trust, friendship, and mutually beneficial relationships that were developed over the 3-year term of the PAP provided a strong foundation for the formation of collaborative networks, which were essential to facilitating longer term recovery.