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Supply and Support for Grassroots Political Reform in Rural China

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Abstract

Evidence suggests that the quality of grassroots political reform varies throughout rural China from fair elections to electoral manipulation. This reflects an uneven supply of reforms. However, top-down implementation is not a complete measure of success when it comes to the introduction of grassroots reform. Rural folks are good judges of institutional qualities, such as procedural fairness. It is their attitudes that are associated with the support for democracy. This is called the supply and support model. I modify and apply this model to rural China, and show that support for democratic institutions and ideals can develop within an authoritarian regime such as the People’s Republic of China.

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Notes

  1. Rose et al., p. 20.

  2. Rose et al., p. 4

  3. Bratton and Mattes, p. 448

  4. Pei, p. 86.

  5. Author’s Interview

  6. Lum, p.2; Ni, p. A08

  7. For a good overview of the key publications on the Organic Law and grassroots political reform see Alpermann [1].

  8. For information about the 2000 and 2004 surveys, see Appendix 1.

  9. Brandt et al., p. 69.

  10. Easton [14], p. 445; Bratton and Mattes, p. 448.

  11. Easton [14], p. 442.

  12. For the Marxist interpretation materialist attitudes see Evans and Kelley [52]; The materialist (and post-materialist) hypothesis is also associated with Inglehart. His definition is similar, but follows the hierarchy of human goals (Maslow). See Inglehart [53].

  13. Rose et al., p. 4.

  14. Villagers elect the village committee members and the leader (he/she is also the chair of the village committee). Thus, the village can have two governing bodies one appointed party branch headed by the party secretary and the popularly elected village committee and chairperson. The Churchill hypotheses proposes that villagers would rather have two governing bodies (one popularly elected and one appointed), than two appointed bodies.

  15. Identifying the type and quality of the village election process is a difficult endeavor. In the both surveys, we interviewed the village party secretary, the leader, accountant and nine villagers as well as town and county officials. In several villages, all three village cadres and most of the villages provided completely different institutional explanations for the same election. In fact, two villages were dropped from the analysis in the 2000 survey (from 36 to 34) and one in 2004 (from 18 to 17) because it was impossible to clearly identify the election type.

  16. For an English translation of the survey questions see Appendix 2.

  17. Author Interview (June, 2004).

  18. Easton [14], p. 439; Rose et al., p. 178; Hibbing and Theiss-Morse, p. 12; Muller and Jukam [29]

  19. Interview June 2004

  20. Li, p. 299; O’Brien and Li, p. 1; Bernstein and Xiaobo [7].

  21. Kennedy, p. 480

  22. Li, p. 250; O’Brien [54]; Shubert [55]

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank KU General Research Fund, the Fulbright Program and my friends at the Northwest Socio-economic Development Research Center (NSDRC) in Xian, China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, University of Kansas, 1541 Lilac Lane, Room 504, Lawrence, KS, 66044-3177, USA

    John James Kennedy

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Correspondence to John James Kennedy.

Appendices

Appendix 1

(2000 and 2004 Surveys)

The 2000 data used in this analysis comes from a survey of thirty-four villages conducted in Shaanxi province between October–November 2000. The survey is a random multi-stage sample of thirty-four villages in six counties. Six counties were randomly chosen based on their level of development using G. W. Skinner’s core-periphery map of Northwest China [56]. Within each county two townships were randomly selected. At the township level, three villages were randomly chosen. Within each village nine households were selected from the household registration list (huji) supplied by the village accountant. The household registration list provided the official name of the head-of-the-household (HH). In addition to the nine villager respondents, the village leader, party secretary and accountant were also interviewed. Twelve graduate students from Northwest University, Xian were trained to conduct the survey. In addition to the survey, the author conducted eight village case studies in three different townships. In-depth interviews were conducted with villagers, village leaders and township and county officials.

The June 2004 survey is a sample of villages in three of the six counties sampled in 2000. Although the same villages are sampled, we do not use the same households or individuals. This is repeated-cross-sectional data because we are collecting new information from statistically similar individuals in the same villages. The questionnaires are also the same, but we added ten new questions. In addition, the 2004 survey had formal interviews with the one of the township leading cadres in each township. The same method was also used to survey villagers and cadres in 2004, twelve graduate students from Northwest University, Xian were trained to conduct the survey and in-depth interviews.

Appendix 2

(Survey Questions)

figure a

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Kennedy, J.J. Supply and Support for Grassroots Political Reform in Rural China. J OF CHIN POLIT SCI 15, 169–190 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11366-010-9096-0

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