Rural Cooperative Organizations Research: Review And Innovation

Cooperative organizations have existed for a very long time,and the history of their development has kept pace with that of the human development and progress.The research is conducted based on three basic assumptions:the long-term nature of urban-rural dual structure in China,the necessity of the existence of rural cooperative organizations,and the importance of organizational innovations of rural cooperative organizations.The rural cooperative organizations under this study have two features:they are in rural areas and their members are ordinary farmers in rural communities.The former feature distinguishes them from city and town cooperative organizations,and the latter from business organizations.The object of this study is the rural cooperative organizations that are formed in the course of ordinary farmers' production and life in rural areas.They may be formal organizations or informal organizations.They are usually supported by certain preferential policies.Their formation is economically induced as well as politically and socially induced.In this co-operation and organization, from start to finish reflects the dominant position of the peasant.farmers have automatic entry and exit mechanisms.Their primary-stage organizational form is farmers' specialization cooperative organizations.And these organizations can evolve into united cooperative organizations and associations of rural cooperative organizations.Their sizes,regional coverage,and activities are all confined within a certain scope.With further growth,these rural cooperative organizations become business organizations.Exploring new types of cooperative paths in the context of new rural construction and the socialist market economy has dual implications.The first is regression.To a large extent,it is back to the roots and basics.In other words,it is returning to the classical traditions of socialism and cooperative system. It follows the principles and values of cooperative organizations as commonly practiced in the world, and it is also compatible and mutually enhancing with modern market economies.It fosters a large number of cooperative organizations at the grass-roots level that truly belong to farmers themselves. The second is consolidation.Consolidate,to the greatest extent possible,all kinds of organizational resources currently existing in rural areas,particularly,the still powerful supply and marketing associations and credit unions,the currently non-functioning rural cooperative organizations,and all sorts of newly emerging specialized cooperative organizations as well as grass-roots agencies such as agro-economy,agro-technology,agro-equipment,and agro-capital agencies.The goal is to concentrate funds and human resources to develop all-round,multi-level,and comprehensive intermediary service carriers and to form rural cooperative organizations that work across three administrative levels (counties,townships,and villages) and provide multiple functions such as credit,distribution,and technologies so as to build organizational underpinnings and institutional guarantees for the socialist construction of new countryside.Practices show that it is a fruitless approach to restoring cooperative systems by confining within the current supply and marketing associations and credit unions.A new approach must be found.An example is the rural cooperative association currently being built in Ruian,Zhejiang Province.It became the first county-level comprehensive rural cooperative organization in China providing three functions(credit,distribution,and technologies) with one entity.This organizational innovation is a respect for history and reality,as well as the lowest cost choose.The framework of village governance include the supply and marketing cooperatives,credit cooperatives,as well as new cooperative organizations,the development of professional associations in rural,settings General rural cooperative association in the grass-roots level,to establish its legal status.basic on the main body of the village committee to implementation village governance,at the same time on the market intermediaries and the mechanism of voluntary transactions,holding on the surpluses from the flow aspect for the necessary of community-based public affairs and public welfare undertakings,so that farmers were not easy to contradict,but also greatly reduce the the cost of the levy.Cooperative system itself does not conflict with property rights system or market economy principles.In addition,it reflects general values,such as liberty,democracy,equity and justice more prominently,and promotes social harmony through mutual assistance and collaboration.This process does not exclude,and will not materialize without the appropriate guidance from the government and the participation of other social classes,but also need the induction of internal efficiency.The dissertation is divided into eight chapters.The Introductory Chapter sets forth the three basic assumptions of the research and introduces the research background,purpose,significance,research methods,and main framework.Chapter Two delineates a number of concepts regarding rural cooperative organizations by way of reviewing the literature on rural cooperative organizations.Chapter Three surveys the historical evolution of rural cooperative organizations,both domestic and abroad,and summarizes the lessons thereof.Chapter Four conducts a theoretical analysis of roles and functions of rural cooperative organizations from perspectives of economics,political science,and sociology. Chapter Five proposes the basic institutional framework of rural cooperative organizations and discusses approaches for their formations and changes.Chapter Six proposes an innovative model of rural cooperative organizations by a case study of Ruian Rural Cooperative Association.Chapter Seven conducts an empirical study of factor inputs and performance of rural cooperative organizations. Chapter Eight summarizes the research findings and outlines the issues for future research.The primary contributions of the research are as follows:(1) in research perspectives,this study seeks to research rural cooperative organizations from the perspective of new rural construction,or rural governance.It has strong relevance to the real world;(2)in research methods,this study adopts various analytical paradigms,including cost-benefit,culture-consciousness,comparative-historical,state-society, governance-good governance,and conducts integrated research on rural cooperative organizations from perspectives such as economic,cultural,historical,political,and social;(3) in research findings,the research does not aim to find causal relationships,but instead,it aims to propose ways to return to and consolidate rural cooperative organizations that are conducive to the construction of new countryside or rural governance by analyzing the historical and contemporary necessity and feasibility.