Institution, Authority And Ideology

The relationship between the power and the right is an ancient but new problem that people constantly pursue and explore in all ages. But different from the other subjects, political ideology and political philosophy focuses on the contingent analysis and rational thinking of the relationship. Just on this premise, in the different era, the people who participated in historical creation process spontaneously or consciously, always provide different kinds of understandings and annotations for the important relation of the society from different levels in their own behavior, thinking and institution design. In a certain sense, the relationship between the state and society derived from above relationship came into being with the state since it originated as a social confrontation. From a long-term view, the development of the society has always been a constantly increasing historical process. However, it is undeniable that the history of mankind has its own succession and continuity. In this sense, the history is viewed as a mirror of the reality. At the same time, we should also note that different relation models of the state and society in different nations, countries and even different regions within a country formed for various reasons. Therefore, researchers have to have the aid of period, the region, events which have "typical" meanings for entering into the meaningful fields which discuss above relationship, as these elements have a clear purpose and direction for the discussion of the problem.Based on the above, this paper chooses the complex relationship networks that formed between state and society on the distribution of rural water public goods in China's "pre-modern" period, and tries to dialyze the history of the power and the right's relation. In reality, water is quasi-public goods. As public resources, how to make rational distribution of water resources has become a priority. And the issue implies three potential aspects: the basis, main body and the purpose of the distribution. Accordingly, the paper is divided into three major parts: the first chapter is on the main basis for the allocation of water rights; the second to the fourth chapter discusses on the powers as the main body of allocation, Chapter V explores the value target of these distribution methods. Chapter VI intensively explores the foundation stone of ruling ideas that forms the political frame in the grass-roots'water conservancy governance on the basis of former five chapters. By the analysis, the author looks forward to investigating how the ruling classes'political ideas exist in the grass-roots'political life. More specifically, the article's argument is structured as follows:Introduction explains the basic theories in the full text; also it introduces the current academic studies and the research thinking and methods of this article. As is known to all, in current China, the problems in rural areas have become an important aspect in the country's political life. It is only because of the particularity in the current time in rural areas. Only can we understand the tradition of the relations between the country and the rural areas, the current status could be hold. In the traditional society which is against the background of agriculture, the mechanism of water management and operation provides a good observation for us for looking into the relationship between the country and the rural areas. There are much more researchers who are absorbed in the issue. However, we can not find thus research which puts emphasis on the concrete and case-study argumentations, they merely explore at the point of sociology and anthropology in a great measure. The situation mentioned above becomes this article's research entrance to a turn. It is based on the author's academic background I attempt to explain the water conservancy governance in specific areas and periods in the politics and ideology point of view.The first chapter introduces the theory of water rights. According to the theory of Public Choice, public resources always are abused only because of their undefined ownership of property. As is one of the most important resources in agriculture, water is precisely such a resource. In this case, the concept of water rights has been put forward. By the means of water rights, everyone in the society utilize the water resource orderly. However, the rational individuals always incline to amplify their interest, which makes the cooperation in the dilemma. In order to overcome this shortage, an authority organization above all the individuals is essential.The second chapter discusses the informal power which is the core of the grass-root water management system. The system is not only the representative of country, but also the broker of the village, which competes with the country for the villages'interest, thus it has some informal power by nature. Chief of the canal is indispensable to the system. Correlative institutions set up a strict system of selection, rights, obligations, incentive measures as well as the system of check and balance. All these means play an important role for ensuring the normal function of chief of the canal. The chief carries out day-to-day management of drainage with the help of canal statutes, which is the rigid legal norms in water management, and also are strictly protected for fear of arbitrary modification, conservation, preservation and confirmation. The chief maintains drainage channels by the statutes as well.Chapter III makes a further analysis of the power's symbols systems which hide in the informal of the power. Here, folklore, history and religious activities all have the meaning of the allocation of resources. Therefore, they become a political issue. In different areas, there is much folklore that spread widely. The folklores insists the sanctity of traditional authority in a word-of-mouth way; Multitudinous stone inscriptions are regarded as the forever rules of curing the allocation of resources; At the same time, the religious ceremony has also been a contact point between the country and the local authority, which scramble for the competitive power resources at the point.The fourth chapter discusses the state power as the source of diverse authority. Although the state power is the ultimate supporter of the local power and the ultimate judge of different water disputes, it less involves in water management only because of its traditional characteristics of their own. Due to the traditional characteristics, the state power always participates in the local businesses passively, it provides limited public services, it has some principles on the village affairs. But the nature of the power makes it tend to expand its authority influence unlimitedly. No doubt, this aggravates the competition of different powers. In a long run, there is a continuous national power expansion.Chapter V discusses the value of the water management. Any political institute should set a value target to improve its sense. Otherwise, this political institute and the political process will lose themselves. At the context of pre-modern, the general lack of material determines a more average distribution of resources because only this means can be widely accepted. It should be noted that it is not equality in the modern sense, nor is it an absolute average of ideal sense. In Chapter VI, the article tried to deconstruct the political structure, power operation and power relationship among the water conservancy governance in traditional society from political ideology-political reality point of view. The operation course from the political reality to political ideology is not one-dimensional at all. It is the interaction between the two sides constantly promotes the political development. The course from the scattered ruling experience to political ideology is often regarded as the blossom of humanity's rational capacity. In other hand, it is a unique human ability to utilize their ability to change the political reality by the political ideas guide. Traditional society forms its own unique political ideology, which attributes back to the community and forms a unique system of political relations. Undoubtedly, it is helpful for better understanding of political ideology's reality in traditional society to analyze the political relations and the political process in the course of water conservancy governance.Lastly, the conclusion offers a summary of the full text. It summarizes the constitutes system, power operating mechanism and the ideological background, then tries to make some analysis on the purpose of significance of the article.However, the power and the right in any society are achieved in a certain institution, ideological, and cultural backgrounds. As a result, the exploration and thinking of the relationship between the two sides should not be departed from the thinking of the whole society institutions and the ideological and cultural elements. Based on this consideration, the paper inquires into the water rights, grassroots informal power, simplistic authority and the formal state power. It argues the fair value of the goal-setting on the right to water rights, and of the power to investigate on the basis of the power and right's intertwined contact in the traditional institution background. And it comes into the conclusion that a similar "governance" model existed in the traditional water community. Of course, this kind of "governance" can be understood only by placing it on traditional thoughts and cultures'environments. However, it is meaningful for us to comprehend the interesting relations represented by public goods between the state and society.