The Internal Logic and Practical Pathways of “Disembedding” and “Coupling” in Public Services—A Case Study of Bazhong City in the Context of Rural Revitalization

Under the rural revitalization strategy, ensuring public services for the “three left-behind groups” is crucial for strengthening the foundation of people's livelihoods. As an agricultural prefecture in the Sichuan-Shaanxi Revolutionary Old Base Area, Bazhong City faces prominent bottlenecks in regional revitalization due to issues like the “disembedding” of public services for these groups in its rural areas. Studying this problem holds significant reference value for similar regions. This study adopts a rural revitalization perspective to construct a coupling pathway analysis framework. Focusing on six key townships for rural revitalization in Bazhong City, it employs multi-source triangulation to collect data and integrates case analysis methodology. Findings reveal that public services for the “three left-behind groups” in Bazhong face constraints in fiscal, human, and technological resources. Based on these findings, this study proposes a coupled closed-loop mechanism featuring Party-building leadership, precise demand response, multi-resource coordination, and support from local rural entities. It further outlines a tiered optimization strategy tailored to rural revitalization, providing theoretical underpinnings and practical pathways to address the service challenges faced by the “three left-behind” groups in similar regions.