Pliable Citizenship and Migrant Inequality in the Xi Jinping Era

Why has urban public service provision for migrant workers remained uneven and devolved to local governments in China? This is especially puzzling given that this has continued at the same time Xi Jinping has centralized authority in many other policy areas, both domestic and foreign. His administration has ushered in an anti-corruption campaign, Belt and Road Initiative projects, and a greater commitment to improving the quality of life of Chinese citizens. But while he has poured resources in the first two, the last remains left to local governments to formulate and implement policies for outsiders living and working in their cities. I argue that public service provision for migrants remains patchy and devolved to local government control because inequality serves the state. Municipal and district authorities use what I call “pliable citizenship.” Local authorities enact social control through the contingent delivery of social services, and these practices have continued apace under Xi because they work well enough to support other state goals, namely economic development and social stability. It allows the central government to claim commitments to increasing equality while municipal governments can maintain a labor force for whom they do not have to provide the full set of services. However, decentralized benefits are not designed to improve the overall welfare of a group of people defined by their movement and mobility.