Abstract: The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed the goal of modernizing the national governance system and governance capacity. Under such a context, here comes the question: can county, as a critical governance unit, driven by digital technology, transition from traditional governance to agile governance? Drawing on the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework proposed by scholars such as Ostrom and the “Structure-Process-Function” theory, this study constructs an analytical framework for digital empowerment enabling the transformation of agile governance in counties. The findings tell that digital technology can strengthen multi-stakeholder participation, establish platforms for information interaction, and facilitate collective action; it can promote process re-engineering, accelerate information transmission, and enable inter-sector collaboration; it can also maintain social order, drive social development, and achieve social equity. An in-depth analysis of digital practices in different regions of China reveals that an application of digital technology can well shift county governance models from traditional to agile. In the future, it is essential to further enhance digital empowerment, establish and improve a collaborative governance framework involving multiple stakeholders, refine organizational systems that are well-coordinated and efficiently implemented, thus ensuring the stable and orderly operation of agile governance systems in counties.

Key words: digitalization, county, agile governance, Chinese modernization, urbanization