Management of socio-economic development of the south-western provinces of China

Abstract

Coordinated regional development has always been a long-term and urgent issue. President Xi Jinping, the leader of the People's Republic of China, believes that the manifestations of uneven development of China's regions remain a significant problem, which manifests itself in local inconsistencies, the dichotomy between the city and the countryside, economic and social differences, material and spiritual misunderstandings, etc. Given China's large-scale territory, large population, and uneven provision of natural resources in the regions, the historical problem of regional development imbalance remains pronounced. The main task of the dissertation was to find ways to implement coordinated regional development - this is not a fleeting achievement, but a long-term task that requires persistent efforts: adjusting and improving the framework of regional policy based on objective economic principles, using the comparative advantages of each region, promoting the rational course and the effective concentration of various factors, as well as the continuous strengthening of initiatives to promote coordination and development within and outside the provinces. Currently, the "Rural Revitalization Strategy", the "One Belt, One Road" Development Strategy and the "Regional Coordinated and Sustainable Development" National Plan have become the key principles shaping China's economic and social landscape in the new era. Under the influence of European strategies for rural development and revitalization, significant progress has been made in various economic and social aspects of the ethnic regions in southwest China. However, with the increase in the level of interregional economic and social development, a number of problems arose, first of all, with regard to the exacerbation of disparities in intraregional development. The striking urban-rural gap in the ethnic regions of southwest China has significantly hindered the overall improvement in the quality of development in these provinces. Therefore, solving the problem of unbalanced economic and social development in the regional context is a priority for the ethnic regions of southwest China. The problem is particularly complex due to the fact that the southwestern ethnic regions belong to the national poverty areas, and in combination with their special geographical environmental factors and weak economic base, as well as differences in the implementation of policies in the ethnic regions, the gap in the level of regional development between provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities is relatively large, which is mainly reflected in the differences in the development of cities and villages, as well as in the unbalanced and insufficient development of the economy, society, ecology and livelihoods of people in the areas where ethnic minorities live. This dissertation research focuses on the study of differences in economic, social, and environmental aspects between urban and rural areas in the ethnic regions of Southwest China through theoretical and empirical analysis. Dissertation research has the following innovative aspects: - from the point of view of qualitative research - combines qualitative and quantitative research on regional development through an in-depth study of the theoretical logic of unbalanced economic and social development of ethnic regions in southwest China; establishes a new theoretical research basis for understanding the imbalances of regional economic and social development, which meets the requirements of the regional strategy of coordinated development. - from the point of view of quantitative research - based on Tsinghua University's unbalanced development index system and includes the results of research by scientists in the academic field; creates a more appropriate methodological basis for calculating the index of measuring the level of economic and social development in the ethnic regions of southwest China, taking into account the actual conditions of these regions. - in terms of evaluation methodology - develops a new evaluation model of regional economic and social development in ethnic regions of Southwest China based on the use of spatio-temporal regression (GTWR) to facilitate horizontal and vertical comparative analysis of measurement results in provinces and cities each year. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis of the current inequality of the levels of economic and social development in various provinces, urban and rural areas of the southwestern region, as well as the clarification of the factors affecting the inequality of the levels of economic and social development in the southwestern ethnic regions, has a very important theoretical and practical significance for the formation of a strategic policy of comprehensive development of the southwestern ethnic territories. The objects of the dissertation research are Chongqing Municipality, Sichuan Province, Yunnan Province, Guizhou Province, Tibet Tibet Autonomous Region and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The results of the study highlight representative data on the development of urban and rural areas in six provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in southwest China over the past 10 years, and also characterize the current state and problems of unbalanced economic and social development of ethnic areas in southwest China through a comprehensive assessment ( an empirical study of the imbalance and causes of insufficient economic and social development) and proposals for ways to improve the situation. The specific content of the study is as follows: Chapter 1 is devoted to the conceptual definition of the theoretical and methodological foundations of unbalanced development. First, this chapter traces the theoretical origins of the connotation of unbalanced development in ethnic areas in southwest China and identifies the characteristics of unbalanced development. Second, the theoretical relationship between the theory of unbalanced development, the theory of polycentric governance and the theory of sustainable development in the ethnic regions of southwest China is analyzed. Finally, the methodological basis of the dissertation research is introduced - the model of uneven regional development, which consists in the analysis and comparison of the measurement model and the model for assessing the imbalance of regional development and the construction of a system for measuring unbalanced development in ethnic areas in southwest China. Based on the results of measuring unbalanced development using the spatio-temporal and geographic weighted regression (GTWR) method, an analysis of economic, social, and environmental factors affecting the balanced development of ethnic regions in southwest China was conducted. As a result, a comprehensive system for assessing the level of development of urban and rural areas of southwestern ethnic groups based on the entropy weight method was built. In Chapter 2, based on the literature review and theoretical background research in Chapter 1, an empirical analysis of the unbalanced economic and social development of ethnic minority areas in southwest China is carried out, and a foundation is laid for a ten-year empirical study of the development paths of provinces with all the problems and imperfections. Thus, the characteristics of unbalanced economic and social development in the ethnic areas of southwestern China were studied. The Balanced Development Index of Tsinghua University was used to measure the general characteristics of the development trend and the characteristic structure of development in various areas of urban and rural areas. In addition, a study of the factors affecting the imbalance of economic and social development in the ethnic areas of southwest China was conducted, and the analysis of the heterogeneity of four factors - economy, society, ecology, and people's livelihoods on the imbalance of development in the ethnic areas of southwest China was conducted . Chapter 3 of the dissertation study was devoted to the search for ways of development and methods of implementing the strategy of achieving balanced economic and social development in the ethnic regions of Southwest China. This chapter first explains the polycentric approach to solving the problem of unbalanced development in the ethnic regions of Southwest China, focusing on three key aspects: the principles of joint governance, the functions of collective governance, and synergistic ways. As a result, specific measures and recommendations were proposed to promote balanced economic and social development in the ethnic regions of southwest China, taking into account sustainability in four dimensions: economic, social, environmental and livelihood. Finally, based on the assessment of economic imbalances and deficiencies in the ethnic regions of Southwest China, as well as on the basis of the results of measurement and evaluation, an analysis of three-level indicators of balanced development within economic, social, and environmental aspects was conducted, on the basis of which strategies are built to achieve a spatially balanced economic and social development in the ethnic regions of Southwest China, provide theoretical ideas for the study of scientifically coordinated and sustainable development in the social and economic spheres of the ethnic regions of Southwest China, and offer empirical examples for conducting regional research. From the point of view of the time dimension, the value of the balanced rural development index of the southwestern provinces of China has a fluctuating upward trend in 2010 - 2020. This shows that with the deepening of the strategy of adaptation of the industrial structure, urban areas will gradually adjust their direction of development, move towards the optimization of production capacities to ensure a sustainable ecological civilization and improve people's well-being, which will also increase the level of balanced development. At the same time, thanks to the promotion of the strategy of rural revitalization and comprehensive poverty alleviation, rural areas are gradually solving the shortcomings of agricultural development and gradually moving towards a balanced development model of rural ecological culture civilization. Regionally, the urban balanced development index is higher for Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality of Sichuan Province and lower for Guizhou Province, Yunnan Province and Tibet Autonomous Region, while the rural balanced development index is higher for Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Sichuan Province and Yunnan Province, and below for Chongqing Municipality of Sichuan Province, Guizhou Province and Tibet Autonomous Region. In terms of the differences between urban and rural areas, Chongqing and Yunnan in Sichuan Province are the most profound, mainly because Chongqing in Sichuan Province is a traditional industrial city, while Yunnan Province is based on a tourism economy and a significant share of agriculture. These two regions have different development priorities, so there will be a big difference between urban and rural areas. Therefore, the study of regional disparities in economic and social development has become an urgent issue in the field of economy and society. This study particularly focuses on the issue of socio-economic inequality between urban and rural areas in different provinces of ethnic regions in Southwest China. In particular, it innovates in the field of inequality of economic development. During the dissertation research, the theoretical assets of Chinese scientists regarding disparities in the economic and social development of the southwestern region were collected and analyzed. The results show that existing studies of regional economic and social problems are focused mainly on the economic and social development of individual provinces. Although Chinese experts and scholars have conducted research on economic and social inequality in most provinces, there is still a lack of research on interprovincial disparities, especially disparities in economic and social development among different provinces in the western region. Thus, this study aims to attract the attention of experts and scholars in related fields and promote further in-depth research in this field.