The Politics of Peasants

Description

This book is an analysis and exploration of the relationship between peasants and policies within the process of reform in China. After examining the long term rural policies, either before or after the reform, it was found that all these polices have been expected to promote peasants’ interests and claimed to take enhancing peasants’ happiness as their goal. Nonetheless, the history and current reality of rural development have demonstrated that the same policy starting point had lead to very different policy designs. Even today, quite a few institutional arrangements with good intentions have ended up with opposite results and have even become bad policies that do harm to people. This book argues that the reason for such serious deviation, between political intentions and institutional arrangements, as well as between policy goals and its results is: as a political force, the peasantry itself has not effectively engaged with the political process of the country. Front Matter ....Pages i-xi Introduction (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 1-22 No. 9 Courtyard and Rural China (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 23-28 The “Seniors” in the No. 9 Courtyard (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 29-46 Wan Li and the Rural Reform (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 47-75 Rural Reform and Local Reformers (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 77-87 A Historical Review on Local Government Reform (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 89-99 Grassroots Governance: Cautions for the Government (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 101-107 What Is “Rural Governance”? (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 109-115 New Governance of the New Countryside (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 117-122 Institutional Environment for Township Governments (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 123-129 The Fundamental Driving Force for Grassroots Government Reform (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 131-136 Grassroots Organizations and Grassroots Democracy (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 137-141 Civil Organizations and Grassroots Democracy (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 143-148 Grassroots Democracy and Construction of the Chinese Legal System (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 149-155 Grassroots Democracy and Social Harmony (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 157-164 The “Leadership” and “Dominant Role” of Grassroots Democracy (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 165-170 The Problem of “Participation” in Grassroots Democracy (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 171-177 The International Influence of Grassroots Democracy (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 179-183 Basic Strategies for Developing Democracy at the Grassroots Level (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 185-191 A Story of Grazing Prohibition in a “Weak” Village (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 193-199 The Story of Bridge Reparation in a “Poor” Village (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 201-206 The Story of Road Repairing in a “Chaotic” Village (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 207-212 Changing Villages (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 213-217 Sharply Different Villages (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 219-224 Enlightenment of “Peasant’s Consciousness” (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 225-229 Looking Back Three Decades (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 231-238 Social Opportunities of Schools for Children of Rural Migrant Workers (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 239-246 An American Scholar’s Chinese Peasant Study (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 247-252 Peasants’ Footsteps and Institutional Reform (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 253-258 A Quarter Century of Peasants’ Petition (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 259-270 The Significance of Subaltern Studies to China (Shukai Zhao)....Pages 271-275 Back Matter ....Pages 277-278