The Political Analysis Of Village's Power Structure

Rural villager's autonomy is an important integral part in our country's political system reform. The research on the village's power structure and peasant's problems has been a focus in academic fields in recent years. This article combs the research achievements in village's power structure by way of structure-institution analysis, and puts forward a four-layer power structure based on the former's studies, that is, Supreme Layer power (centre government power) - Middle Layer power (local government power, here it refers to town government power) - Submiddle Layer power (village's elite power) - Low Layer power (ordinary villager power), and it also analyses the four-layer power's mutual activation and the existing problems. The Supreme Layer penetrates and controls the traditional villages by macro-institution transplantation which will creat structural contradictions with the other three layers; the Middle Layer is usually endowed with great initiative and can construct its own space to resist the Supreme Layer's influence overtly or covertly, as well as to dominate or suppress the Submiddle Layer and the Low Layer; The Submiddle Layer is in the transitional position of the four-layer power structure,and forms a cross- point or junction in the four layers; The Low Layer controls the ownership of village's governance, but it must entrust the ownership to the other three layers to carry out, that is, they form an entrust-agent relationship but in practice, this will bring about entrust-agent contradictions. Therefore the traditional bureaucratic system could not solve the effective problems in village governance.With the issue and enactment of the Organization Law of Villager's Committee of People's Repulic of China, the representative villager's autonomy and the four-layer power beneficial mutual activation, which is based on the constitutional polity and formed by way of institutionalization, is the fundamental way to assure village's long peace and stability in China.This paper covers five parts:Part I, the historical change of village power structure. It analyses the historical change of village power structure, especially the relationship between nation and village, that is, from the traditional village dual layer power structure (nation-gentry) to the single power structure during the period of People's Community, then to the four-layer power structure since the reform began in village.Part II, institution transplantation: the whole design of Supreme Layer power's macro-institution. The Supreme Layer publizes the villager's autonomy system and other system designs by compulsory institutional change on the basis of the inductive institutional change. It defines the power limitation between nation and village through institutional innovation. Owing to penetration of the Supreme Layer in the traditional village.it must creat structural contradictions with the other three layers.Part III, resistance and suppression: the two sides of Middle Layer power. The Middle Layer is the basis and end of the Supreme Layer in rural areas. The town power carried out by the town's party and governmental organization is the conjuncture of national power and social power's mutual penetration and influence. Is the Middle Layer's action to enlarge the basis of national power, or just to enlarge its own power by defending itself against the national rules' entry? The Middle Layer has great initiative and can build its own space, so, on the one hand, it can resist the authority from Supreme Layer while in compliance with the concerted action; on the other hand, it suppresses the village power by using national authority and contradicts with the Submiddle Layer.Part IV, cross-point and junction: the medium position of the Submiddle Layer. The Submiddle Layer power refered to villager's autonomy power (village governance power) is directly performed by village inside-system elites. Inside-system elites are usually the village cadres, and outside-system elites are the tribe elites, fiction powers, religious elites...