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Politics by Other Means: Village Elections in China1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2016

Weixing Chen
Weixing Chen*
Affiliation:
East Tennessee State University
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Abstract

This article argues that the village election in China is a case of “politics by other means” in that it is a state act imposed on the peasantry with the purpose of reorganizing the peasantry and maintaining the state's macroeconomic and political control under the conditions of economic reform. In analyzing village elections, the paper examines the institutional limbo in the countryside and the state's motivations for introducing this electoral process in the 1980s. The paper also analyzes the inherent limitations of the “Organic Law of Villagers' Committee” by reviewing the central role of the state in village elections processes as well as by discussing economic aspects of the politics of village elections.

Type
Regional Report
Information
Journal of East Asian Studies , Volume 1 , Issue 2: Special Issue: Perspectives on Environmental Protection in Northeast Asia , August 2001 , pp. 221 - 241
Copyright
Copyright © East Asia Institute 

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