| By explaining the different patterns in two peasant revolutions in South China, this dissertation examines how peasant communities organizing themselves for collective action contributed to agrarian revolutions. Historically, many peasant communities were regulated by powerful cooperative institutions. They organized communal efforts to confront environmental challenges. The different origins of these institutions--voluntary cooperation by peasants and imposed cooperation by lords or external power--influenced communities' organizational principles. Communal organizational frameworks varied along four dimensions: organizational ideology, decision-making and source of elites, control mechanisms, and interest redistribution. This dissertation argues that agrarian revolutions can be caused by peasant attempts to restructure unjust communal organizational frameworks and establish new rules for community cooperation. |
