Individualization Of Rural Society And Township Governance

This dissertation is empirical research on G township in Anhui. Focusing on interactional relationship between the process of individualization of rural society and the township governance, the author attempts to analyze the dilemmas and problems of countryside governance.Engaging with a wider literature on the topic about the governance of township and rural society in the first part, the author proposes the research hypothesis and examines it by the field work in G township in later part.State and the market changes rural society. The changing rural society can be operated into the three stages, namely, individualism farmland management,rights-oriented and rural social welfare development. Accordingly, the evolution of rural governance model changed for three models, namely, "extraction-oriented", "township corporatism governance" and "project-based management". Three kinds of models of governance and corresponding interactional relationship between the rural society and countryside government are the landscape of township governance.The dissertation examines the three stages of the process of individualization of rural society and corresponding township governance model through literature, field dialogue etc. The author found that in G township, township governance model is not endogenous, but the state and the market penetrate into rural society and learn governance experience from towns of Eastern China. State and market promote the process of individualization and atomization of rural society. In the extraction-oriented model, township governance evolved into "direct confrontation", township corporatism governance model is the reference in eastern regional rural governance experience. The local market in Anhui is not mature, the consequences of corporatism governance model is the rural debt and the intervention of countryside government into the autonomy of farmers.During of the national implementation of rural social policy to the people's livelihood construction, the township governance model is the project management, through which the project operation, township governance maintain the operation of township itself, increasing the difficulty of integration of township.This research concluded that both the state and the market will further promote the process of individualization of rural society, rural governance framework should take full account of the autonomy of the rural community, while increasing the ability to integrate town.