Planned Change: Mechanisms And Limitations

This dissertation examines the path of rural community building in China, based on the case study of Hubei Province. It argues that rural community building is a process of planned change, in which governments at all levels play the positive role of agents and actors, and perform various functions such as mobilization, organization, guidance, planning and promotion as well.Different from traditional endogenous and spontaneous community, the community in modern sense is mainly a kind of planned community which reflects the characteristics of outside-in integration and rational construction by the state. Under circumstance of differentiation of community and the disappearance of identity, the government's initiative in planned change has positive significance and rationality in practice to a certain extent. However, there are a few limits in the planned change dominated by governments in practice. Whether or not a new type of rural community could be established not only depends on the goals set and re-recognized by people, but also depends on the means and mechanisms promoted by the governments to a great extent.The first chapter summarizes and analyses the origin, background, dynamics of the reform, as well as the progress of the experiment. It points out that the rise of rural community building did not originate from people's intention or imagination, but the adaptation to social structure change and rural grass-roots governance needs. This is similar to urban community building. For a long time, the work unit system (danwei) is not only the basic organization form of urban society, but also an important feature of rural society organizations and rural grass-roots governance. Such rigid, enclosed and mechanical integration methods are increasingly losing their economic and social base and legitimacy in the new situation.The second chapter describes the experiment and process of rural community building, and examines the mobilization process, methods and institutional arrangements of the pilot projects of rural community building, as well as its types and models. Then it analyses the progressive reform model of rural governance in a transformational period.The third chapter focuses on the method of rural community building. On the one hand, it explores the dynamics and logics of rural community building by service, management, community organization and neighborhood; On the other hand, it focuses on the structural and institutional arrangements of a new type of rural community. It argues that accompanied with the process of state's penetration into the countryside, the state had adopted a more subtle and flexible penetration strategy named "delivering services to rural areas" after entering the modern era. However, when the state strengthened its penetration and control over rural areas, it failed to provide rural areas with adequate public services as cities. Such a dual integrating system may easily lead to conflicts and contradictions between urban and rural areas and arouse people's dissatisfaction under the new circumstance. The creation of the community platform lays the organizational and institutional basis to realize the transformation from dual integration of urban and rural areas to integrated governance.The fourth chapter explores the ways of promotion and implementation mechanisms in rural community construction. It finds that top-down administrative mobilization and government promotion remain the important mechanisms and forms in the present community construction. However, depending on the mechanism and energy of executive-oriented inertial operation, the different levels of government also introduce socialized participation, market-oriented operation, voluntary services and even other concepts and approaches to facilitate the work during this process. Therefore, we can also further observe the evolution and transformation of behavioral patterns and functioning mechanisms of the government through the perspective of community construction.The fifth chapter examines the governments' policy implementation, methods, and performance in the process of rural community construction from the perspective of rational governments and policy implementation. Then it discusses the impact and consequences of the selective policy implementation at grass-roots.The sixth chapter studies and analyses the motivation, logic, and the function of government's role in promoting rural community construction, as well as its limitations, the generation mechanisms and institutional change of rural community organization. In the viewpoint of the transforming and changing history of grass-roots governance model, the reform of rural social organization and management system is closely tied with the joint efforts of peasants, cadres and national leaders. It claims that it is a kind of "state-sponsored" change propelled by public needs and the pressure mechanisms from the bottom, the acquiescent support and responsive mechanisms of local cadres, as well as the legitimization and promotion mechanisms of the central government.In summary, it argues that the rural community construction is a planned change led by governments, in which all levels of governments play an important role such as mobilization, organization, guidance, planning, and promotion, etc. However, in essence, rural community is formed by people's internal identity and mutual needs within a certain area. Therefore, it is not sufficient to build community by the state from top-down. Meanwhile we should cultivate the spirit of "self-reliance, mutual aid and cooperation" among community residents, strengthen rural community's self integration and development capabilities, and realize the organic link-up and positive interaction between national rationality and peasant rationality in the planned change. Besides, when the government plays a leading role, we should also bring local and society's initiative into the full play, and thereby form the joint efforts of rural community construction.