An Institutional Analysis On The Process Of Civil Mediation In Contemporary Chinese Rural Areas

The Party Centre has openly stated the grand aim of building a socialist harmonious society and constructing the socialist new countryside. Thus, a huge task facing the whole Party and people of all ethnic groups around the country is to build a harmonious countryside out of the current rural society with two-thirds of whole nation's population. The prerequisite of this, is to solve the contradictions timely, and to settle the disputes properly. This thesis focuses on civil mediation, an effective way of settling disputes in the rural areas, and apply the sociological institutionalism to analyze the process of civil mediation in contemporary Chinese rural areas while try to shed light on the effect of institution during the process.First, the thesis observes the research of"institution"and"mediation"in both the theoretical and practicing fields. The word"institution"has long existed in China since ancient times, but the systematic research on it started only in modern times. T. Veblen holds that"institution"is some fairly unique thing capable of more complicated influences, a prevailing thinking habit during a particular period of time. Commons explains"institution"as a kind of"collective behavior"and an"order"used to solve the confrontation in transaction. The new institutional economics believes that"institution"is a play rule of a society, the outcome of long-time gaming. North goes a step further and point out the meaning of"institution"from various perspectives. Wu Guogang and Shi Manfei see"institution"as"various rules that prohibit unpredictable and opportunistic behaviors". Lu Xianxiang, on the other side, holds that"institution is a game rule of a society and a man-made framework used to impose restrictions on human acts of intercommunication". Scholars have similar view in regard to the connotation of"mediation", which means a method, an activity or a program used voluntarily by the persons involved to settle the disputes through consultation with the presence of a third party.