Welfare’s Political Contexts: Rural Grassroot Democracy

Abstract

This chapter describes the political factors of rural welfare. It demonstrates and discusses about relationship between welfare and politics. Specially, it is about Welfare’s political contexts: Rural grassroot democracy in countryside of China. Welfare as a measure of redistribution is always related to politics. Opinions and standpoints come from economic positions, and economic and political interests are represented by political system. All welfare systems have absolute links with political ideologies and regimes. The farmers need a democratic participation after economic development. The high demand for welfare arrangement and administration of public affairs was a major factor that contributed to the birth of village self-government. Village self-government includes four kinds of democratic forms, which are democratic elections, democratic decision-making, democratic management and the democratic supervision. It plays a role to decide welfare production and redistribution.