The Period Of Social Transition In Rural Dispute Processing Mechanism Research

As the rule of law in Chinese rural society can be reflected by the differentcategories of disputes and corresponding models of dispute resolution, relevantstudies on rural disputes have always attracted attention from China’s legalcommunity. Currently, many rural areas in China are witnessing reforms taking placein economic, political and culture spheres, thus reaching closer and closer to“semi-acquaintance society” or even “stranger society”, yet no effective anddiversified models of dispute settlement have been established despite the increasingfrequency of social conflicts. Under such social background, the author selects aparticular coastal community in Shandong Province, looks into its disputes and makesa jurisprudential analysis of its existing resolution mechanisms. The thesis alsodiscusses the legal basis and value orientation of the existence of diversified disputesettlement mechanisms, with the hope that different mechanisms can be adopted fordifferent categories of disputes and that diversified mechanisms can be builtespecially in the rural society under transition.The thesis is divided into five chapters. Chapter one is about the current state ofrural disputes. With a brief description of the economic, political and cultural changesin rural areas, this part discusses how these changes are related to the categories ofdisputes and relevant settlement mechanisms. By analyzing the research findings, theauthor also points out the characteristics of the disputes in changing rural society andmajor categories of disputes, and focuses on the existing settlement methods.Chapter two is about the choice preference of dispute resolution mechanisms inrural society nowadays. The author discusses the factors affecting the choices, such aseconomic reasons, social relationship and repetitive behaviors and makes detailedanalysis of how choices are being made under different cases.In chapter three, the author discusses the legal basis for building diversifieddispute resolution mechanisms, and connects dispute settlement with legal remedy tobetter illustrate the point. This part also analyzes the value orientation for buildingdiversified dispute resolution mechanisms, so as to further develop the methods ofdispute settlement.Chapter four analyzes the mechanisms of judicial activism and grand mediationraised by Chinese judicial authority, including their meanings and social backgrounds. As these mechanisms have been carried out to help build harmonious society duringthe period of increasing social conflicts, they can serve as valuable perspectives to theanalysis of dispute resolution mechanisms and help further demonstrate theadvantages and disadvantages of the approach of judicial strategy in rural areas.In chapter five, the author focuses on the reconstruction of various resolutionmechanisms in the changing rural society, with emphasis on the necessity of engagingadministrative authority in the process of settling rural disputes. It is also pointed outthat the contradiction and interaction between local regulation and national law iswhat characterizes the dispute resolution mechanisms in China. This part furtheranalyzes the basic conditions for realizing a diversified dispute resolution mechanism,which is market economy, democratic politics and civil society, as they can help tobuild and protect the diversified dispute resolution mechanism.It is also pointed out in the last part that there is no universal model of disputeresolution that can be adopted in every rural area, especially in China where there isuneven development among regions, thus each rural area should explore their ownmodels of dispute resolution mechanisms in accordance with their own situation so asto settle the disputes and build a harmonious society.In this thesis about rural disputes and relevant resolution mechanisms, the authorhas made a comprehensive and systematic analysis concerning political, social andeconomic disciplines on the basis of a real-life case through comparative methods, soas to build an effective and diversified model of dispute resolution.The author analyzes China’s rural society under transition, relates disputeresolution to legal remedy, and explores the value orientation of building diversifieddispute resolution mechanism, so as to help implement relevant theories into real life.The relation between settling rural disputes and rural governance, along with thecontradiction and interaction between national law and local regulation, is alsodiscussed so as to build a diversified dispute resolution mechanism with Chinesecharacteristics.To sum up, frequency of rural conflicts and mass disturbances is increasing,therefore the issue of settling rural conflicts and promoting good governance in ruralareas does not only affect the legal environment in China, but more importantly thefuture of the agriculture sector, rural areas and farmers, yet there is still no effectiveand efficient model of dispute resolution in China’s rural areas where local governments tend to do things in their own ways, the fact of which has made it anurgent task to analyze the rural disputes and explore a diversified dispute resolutionmechanism applicable for China’s conditions.