Rural
development is a fundamental issue related to the national economy and people’s
livelihood. From the new rural construction to the comprehensive implementation
of the rural revitalization strategy，the top-level design about rural development has received more and
more attention, and horizontal cooperation between the national competent
department of rural policy formulation and other central government departments
has been further strengthened. In order to deeply study the inter-governmental
cooperation relationship of China’s rural policy，the
paper uses 743 rural policy texts jointly issued by the central department
between 2004 and 2021，takes the four large-scale
institutional reforms of the State Council since 2003 as the stage nodes，and analyzes the characteristics of the inter-governmental
cooperation network during the period with quantitative research methods. The study
finds that the inter-governmental cooperation relationship of China’s rural policy
has shown the dual characteristics of change and changelessness in recent years.
In terms of change，the number of inter-governmental cooperation
in China’s rural policy has been increasing，the scope of
cooperation has been expanding, the complexity and intensity of cooperation have
been increasing，and reached a climax after the rural revitalization
strategy was proposed. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs，the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission
have gradually formed a stable “golden triangle” cooperation relationship. In addition，collaborative intergovernmental cooperation means a high level of departmental
responsibilities and interests，and will also promote the
increasingly close and stable cooperation between government departments，which can better escort the cause of rural revitalization in China.