Social Security System For Particuler Communities In Transition Society: With Special Reference To Land-Loss Farmers In Changzhou, China

According to International Human Rights Convention and the Constitution of China, the social security right is interpreted as the basic human right for each citizen. Undoubtedly, peasants, as national citizens, are entitled to the social security. However, peasants have been left without the social security right since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. It should be the case that land collectively owned by peasants is a 'survival resource' for peasants in some sense. Therefore, in terms of those land-expropriated peasants, what they lost is the resource to maintain their basic livelihood. On the other hand, with the fantastic development of economy, urbanization has been a crucial way to promote the economic and social development. Given the fact that the delivery of public services provided by the government is bound to the limited financial resources, and a sound social security system covering both urban and rural residents cannot be built overnight, special communities as land-expropriated peasants should take priority of enjoying social security during the period of social transformation. For one thing, the government can obtain a great amount of capital in the process of land requisition and land transfer, which can guarantee those peasants' social security; for another, peasants, as major participators and constructors, who have made a great contribution to the process of urbanization, should benefit from it. Yet, as a matter of fact, imperfections exist in the compensation system of the land requisitioned in China. As a result, compared with their contribution, a great number of peasants have not gained corresponding rewards for their farmland requisition in the process of urbanization. Therefore, the major concern for the land-expropriated peasants is their old-age pension. Based on the theory of social security, this thesis analyzes the living conditions of the land-expropriated peasants and explores the necessity and feasibility of establishing a social security system for them. Given its status quo in Changzhou, and by integrating experiences of other cities home and abroad in solving these similar issues, the author proposes a basic plan on the social security system for the land-expropriated peasants. It is also noted in the thesis that the key to establish the social security system for the land-expropriated peasants is to secure their old-age pension, which can guarantee their basic livelihood. Then the author further makes feasible suggestions on resettling the land-expropriated peasants.