Author: Liu Peng, Liu Jia

Abstract: Governance theory has become one of the most important frontier theories in the field of public administration at the present stage. Its application scope has gradually expanded from communities and cities to countries and even the whole world. This paper first compares the three ideological governance thoughts of liberalism, nationalism and communitarianism in the western context, and then analyzes the connection and difference between them and the governance theories in the Chinese context. Then, the localization process of governance theory in the Chinese context and the logic behind it are explained, and the development path and logic of China's governance theory along the "ancient governance thought -- comprehensive governance of social security -- social management -- social governance -- national governance" are analyzed. After the 19th CPC National Congress, the discourse system of governance in China has gradually developed into a relatively stable and localized "unbalanced governance mode under the overall leadership of the CPC" and the institutionalization level has been steadily improved. Although the current theory of national governance system has initially reached a relatively stable state of localization, it still needs in-depth localization of mechanism, policy and culture before it is fully mature. Only by promoting the localization of governance theory at a deep level can it provide localized theoretical guidance for the modernization of China's national governance.

Key words: governance theory; Ideology; Social governance; Unbalanced governance