Government-led Rural Community Development

Taking Lishui Prefecture of Zhejiang Province as an example. this dissertation examines government-led rural community development in the underdeveloped area of the developed province, to uncover the necessity, way and confine of government intervention in rural community development.This dissertation proves that community has been becoming an important concept to study the change of social life and people's affiliation. Whenever there were social crises and disasters, community became a call for social solidarity, and a hope to overcome adversity. Since the middle and late part of 20th century, many countries hoped that community development should recreate and improve community life, to increases social unity. Developed countries and areas reemphasized the support and aid to declining community in the process of marketization. in order to generate fairer social structure and economic system. From the perspectives of population, industry, culture and social governance, it is highly necessary for China to take the significance of the existence and development of rural communities into account. First. China is a nation with a large population living in rural communities, which are still important form of collective life. Second, most rural communities and the agriculture support mutually, which has direct contribution to food supply and security. Once more. rural community is typical of different culture than urban community, in the aspects of natural environment, agriculture and indigenous people's life style. The support and development of rural communities imply the preservation of cultural diversity. Finally, social governance relies on rural communities, which are occupied by the scattering and relative aggregating population.However since the introduction of reform and opening-up policy, rural communities in China, particularly those in the underdeveloped area, fail to have superiority in the marketization. in the aspects of the traditional agriculture, labor force and capital reserve. Rural communities are compelled into decline and deterioration in the mass. by the inferiority of vulnerable agriculture, disadvantaged peasants and the market's intense drafts of the land and labor force. Regardless of economic optimization or social accountability, the government needs to intervene and support rural community development. This kind of intervention should be promoting infrastructure, public service and social welfare in rural communities, to stimulate the economic vitality and capacity of rural communities. And the aim of it is to realize rural-urban linkage, in the economic development and social structure.In fact, in the process of providing economic support and public service, the local government has orientation of "rational counting" and "profit seeking", which leads to the transfer of the cost of public policies from government to local residents. Government-led rural community development in underdeveloped areas confronts two paradoxes:"inspiring and agression of the market", and "support and extracting of the government". Thus this dissertation proposed that local governments in the underdeveloped area. in the process of proactive intervention, needs to be sure of the dimension. content and confine of their intervention. For the dimension of intervention, local governments have the responsibility to save rural communities from declining, after the extensive introduction of the market forces into rural communities. For the content of intervention, local governments need to strengthen economic support and service supply to the inhabitants in rural communities. For the degree of intervention, local governments needs to avoid the pressing of market forces, to prevent the excessive corrosion on the rural society, and to avoid to be predatory forces of resources in rural communities.