Pattern And The Path Of Social Governance: An Empirical Research Of Chongqing W-county

This dissertation focuses on the path of social governance in poor rural areas.At the macro level, this dissertation teases out the context of social change from threeconcepts, which are "social management","social construction" and "social governance."With the evolution of three concepts, more and more public affairs have been transferred tosocial organizations, so that society from a " subordinate" into an important governance body.At the micro level, a puzzle of governance is manifested because of the thetransformation of the delivery of public affairs from top-down to bottom-up. Thus,governance is more a technical problems than a kind of civil right.This dissertation conducts the study by looking into the social reform practice of Wcounty of Chongqing City. W county began its reform form2007under the guidance of thegovernment, accompantied with the help of NPO. This is a typical case because two factswith W county make it more difficult to find the solution. First, the county has a rathertraditional and closed social culture. Its modern self governance organizations have farmore insufficient awareness and capability. Second, the county, basically anunderdeveloped poor mountainous community, is barely seen with any collective interests(mainly economic ones) on which the establishment of the self governance organizationsrelies.To solve this problem, we have two direct choices: to return to the old track ofgovernment control or put the duty of governance into the hand of the society and let thesociety take its natural course. In this context, the practice of W county reveals an effectivenew governance mode, the “U+B” governance mode under the scrutiny of this paper. In thismode,“B”(Basic) refers to the self governance organizations of the villagers and “U”(Upper) the top helpers above such organizations, which can include the government,public-welfare organizations from the outside, and even the two village committees seen in the village as semi-administrative organs.The core idea of “U+B”governance model includes:(1) U and B can be integrated intoan organic unit in certain relations to govern the public affairs of the village.“U+B”model isdifferent form coorperative governance between government and NPO. U and B has asymbiotic relationship, and this is a way to achieve governance when the social organizationin insufficient capacity. In this governance unit, U is helper, who undertakes more specificwork, and B is the real responsibility-taking subject.(2) Through an organic integrationbetween U and B, both to enhance the public’s ability to self-governance, but also deepenedthe collective interests, which lower the threshold of governance, and public affairs can bedone more efficiently.(3) In this model, B gradually takes the main responsibility of the unit.Its effects are close to the real self-governance,such as democracy and self-responsibility.(4)With the "U+B" model moving forward, the public self-governance capacity graduallyincreases. Eventually, the society will move toward truly independent self-governance.(5)This is a long process.When B gradually becomes capable of the task, U will graduallywithdraw. If B fails, U will play the role as the party that takes the ultimate responsibility.Thus this model has great flexibility,which can exist in a long time.It also can replace thecurrent governance mode,or the ideal or radical kind of public self-governance practices.There are three conditions during the process of “U+B”model construction:(1) If thegovernment plays the role of U, it needs to change its position from control-oriented toservice-oriented, then supportive government;(2) If the NPO plays the role of U, it needs tomaster the appropriate way to mobilize public participation;(3) There need to be somecollective interest as the basis of “U+B” governance,including economic and social affairs.The study found that the most important collective interest is economic activity,which is thepursuit of economic development.In addition,the distribution of social benefits and the pursuitof happy life, as well as culture, ecology and social development can also be the goals.However, due to the scarcity of collective interests, the risk of "U+B" model is that it mayguide people toward an idealism future. If the social objectives are very attractive but can notfulfill, the risk will be increased greatly.Apart from theoretical conclusions, the study can also reveal some importantconclusions in application.(1) The practice of social governance in a traditional poorcounty like W faces two difficulties: people’s insufficient self organization capability andinsufficient collective interests.(2) Between the two difficulties, a specific “U+B”governance unit can make up for current insufficiency.(3) After its transformation into a“service provider,” the village committee can serve as the lowest level of the administrativesystem and, together with the government at the higher level, become a helper for the self governance organization of the villagers and no longer represent the specific form ofgrassroots democracy. Then, the self governance organization of the villagers is establishedin the village on a more fundamental level. The analysis of this paper will show how such adevelopment mode, which goes the “opposite way” to grassroots democracy in form,benefits the self governance organization of the general public.Both the conclusions in theory and application provide useful reference to currentsocial reform of China.