Globalization, Governance, and Development of the Pearl River Delta Region

Globalization in almost all aspects of society entails widespread discourses on the role of the nation-state and non-state institutions, accompanied by a revival of regions at both supra-national and intra-national levels. These discourses lead to an emergence of new thinking about governance in domains ranging from national and local politics to international relationships. However, enthusiasm about governance has stemmed from and mostly concentrated on capitalist market economies. Studies on governance in developing economies such as China are rare. This paper applies the governance concept to research on China, with a view to facilitating a better understanding of the economic restructuring and social changes in China since the late 1970s. The paper first reviews theories of governance, then provides an empirical study with special reference to the Pearl River Delta region in southern China. It further examines the development of the region since 1978 through applying the concept of governance, mainly in relation to the spatial aspect. The paper concludes that in the Pearl River Delta region coordination and partnership through network relations have been eagerly called for and a shift from government to governance is looming large