中国经济社会转型期复杂多元的社会问题，需要政府和社会力量合作解决。相应地，政策过程也愈发开放。老龄政策如何精准定位老年人需要，落实推广以满足社会需求，已成为地方政府有效科学施策的重要考验。立足于老龄政策，识别地方政府政策过程及其动力机制，显得尤为重要。然而，已有研究对地方政府民生政策过程的观察相对不足。
        本研究以政策网络理论为研究视角，主要采用案例研究方法，以福州市长者食堂系列政策的动态过程为案例来观察地方政府层面的政策过程及其背后的动力机制。研究中以访谈法、二手资料搜集法作为主要实证资料搜集方式。从时间维度来看，该案例经历了“社会自发实践到政府政策试验”“政府政策试验到政府全面推广”两个阶段，期间存在政府网络和非政府网络之间的互动。
        在第一阶段，非政府网络推进地方政府识别老年人用餐需求，通过“自下而上”的路径发挥作用，政府网络及时对民众需要进行回应，采取政策试验的方式论证
长者食堂建设的可行性；在第二阶段，非政府网络助力问题重要性识别，政府网络通过“自上而下”的路径发挥作用，上级政府政策优先级的变化，影响地方政府的政绩观，改变议题的重要性排序。
        本研究得到以下初步发现：
        第一，在政策环境下，存在着“政策网络行动者诉求表达→政策网络结构变化→资源变化→影响政策过程”的机制。不同政策网络行动者具有不同诉求，这些诉求在制度约束下进行表达和互动。
        第二，地方“两会机制”是地方政策过程中的关键机制。部分具有餐饮企业家身份的地方人大代表、政协委员成为政府网络与非政府网络互动的桥梁。从中央到地方的“两会”机制，是了解国民经济社会发展、听取各方声音、传递执政理念的重要平台，有助于加强政党与政府、政府与社会之间的联系。
        第三，在“社会自发实践到政府政策试验”阶段，政府网络与非政府网络的互动具有“自下而上”的特点，政策网络成员的联系较为松散；而在“政府政策试验到政府全面推广”阶段，则呈现出“自上而下”的特点，政策网络成员的联系更为紧密。推动地方政府政策过程的动力主要包括回应性动力和合法性动力。

        China’s complex and diverse social problems in the period of economic and social transition require the cooperation of the government and social forces to solve them. Correspondingly, the policy process has become more open. How to accurately locate the needs of the elderly and implement and promote the policy to meet the needs of the society has become an important test for the effective and scientific implementation of local governments. Based on the policy on aging, it is particularly important to identify the policy process of local government and its dynamic mechanism. However, the existing studies have relatively insufficient observations on the livelihood policy process of local governments.
        Based on the research perspective of policy network theory, this study mainly adopts the case study method, and takes the dynamic process of Fuzhou mayor’s canteen policy as a case study to observe the policy process at the local government level and the dynamic mechanism behind it. In this study, the interview method and the secondary data collection method were used.
        In chronological order, the case has gone through two stages: “social spontaneous practice to government policy experiment” and “government policy experiment to government comprehensive promotion”, during which there is interaction between government and non-government networks. In the first stage, the non-governmental network promotes local governments to identify the needs of the elderly, and plays a role through a “bottom-up” approach, and the government network responds to the needs of people in a timely manner, and adopts a policy experiment to demonstrate the feasibility of building canteens for the elderly. In the second stage, the non-governmental network helps to identify the importance of the problem, and the government network plays a role through the “top-down” approach. The change of policy priorities of the higher-level government affects the performance perception of local governments and changes the importance ranking of issues.
        The following preliminary findings were obtained:
        Firstly, in the policy environment, there is a mechanism for “the expression of the demands of policy network actors→ changes in the structure of the policy network→ changes in resources → affect the policy process”. Different policy network actors have different demands, and these demands are expressed and interacted with under institutional constraints.
        Secondly, the local “two sessions” mechanism is a key mechanism in the local policy process. Some local people’s congress deputies and CPPCC members with the status of catering entrepreneurs have become a bridge between the government network and the non-government network. The “two sessions” mechanism from the central to the local level is an important platform for understanding the national economic and social development, listening to the voices of all parties, and conveying the concept of governance, which is conducive to strengthening the ties between political parties and the government, and between the government and society.
        Thirdly, in the stage of “social spontaneous practice to government policy experiment”, the interaction between government networks and non-government networks has the characteristics of “bottom-up”, and the connection between policy network members is relatively loose. In the stage of “government policy experiment to comprehensive government promotion”, it presents a “top-down” characteristic, and the members of the policy network are more closely connected. The driving forces that drive the local government policy process mainly include responsive power and legitimacy power.