Do visiting monks give better sermons? “Street‐level bureaucrats from higher‐up” in targeted poverty alleviation in China

In those countries lacking democratic institutions and with weak professional bureaucracy and low governance capacity at the rural grassroots level, do different types of street‐level bureaucrats (SLBs) exist? If so, how do they work? To answer these questions, this article constructs an institution‐practice framework to understand the different types of SLBs. Based on fieldwork in three Chinese counties concerning their implementation of the Targeted Poverty Alleviation Policy, we found that the street‐level bureaucracy from higher‐up is the key to addressing China’s inadequate street‐level governance capacity. The organizational structure, mechanisms, and strategies of SLBs from higher‐up are differ from other types of SLBs. The institutional arrangements of the SLBs from higher‐up are campaign‐style and informal; their institutional mechanisms are mainly idea loading and carrying, and policy learning; their motivation is politicalized, that is, they are politically committed and incentivized; they are also coping, but they are entrepreneurs. The SLBs from higher‐up expands our understanding of the street‐level bureaucracy as it relates to institutional embeddedness, diversified types, and escaping the trap of street‐level governance capacity limitations.