It is helpful in debunking the idea that all decision making in the People’s Republic takes
place from the top-down. It also debunks the idea that because of the absence of a multiparty
system, the Chinese system is so fundamentally different from what is common in
Germany, France, the UK or the USA, that a totally different conceptual framework is
required to describe it. In fact, most, if not all, the theoretical notions developed around
policy networks proved fruitful when applied to the fragmentation, interdependencies,
stalemates and breakthroughs in decision-making processes in China.