The Mechanism Of Rural Grassroots Democracy's Expansion

Problems in current rural grassroots governance are highlighted in the dilemma of the rural grassroots democracy: on the one hand,the elite democracy with administrative tendency under the dominant of power often make the elites in power to squeeze the will of ordinary villagers.On the other hand,the mass democracy with irrational tendency which under the dominant of interest easily lead to the vanishment of collective action and common interests.The two types of politics cause the separation of rural grassroots democracy,bringing about conflicts of interests and mutual distrust among the different subjects.In the process of rural modernization,this problems has become even more acute as a result of the further division of rural authority,hindering the benign development of village self-government.Rural grassroots democracy needs to be expanded to the public space,needs to realize the rational and standardized development,achieving the integration of elite democracy and mass democracy,so as to strengthen the interests compatible and participation together among different subjects,to alleviate the plight of rural grassroots governance.In recent years,rural elite organizations which arise in D County of Zhejiang Province are the mediation and mechanism for the orderly expansion of rural grassroots democracy.The urbanization and opened rural society lead to the diversity of rural elites,rural elite organizations bring these elites with various resources and authority together by the form of social organization,to strengthen the social network communication between each other.The participation of rural eliteorganizations on grassroots governance is based on identity,moral responsibility,public awareness and ability,which is a powerful supplement to the rural formal organizations with weak legality and mobilization,so it is conducive to promoting the two political forms of mutual tolerance,to achieve the orderly expansion of rural grassroots democracy.This thesis provides theoretical support for the research' progress by combing the theories of elite democracy,mass democracy and mobilization,and takes D county as a microcosm,to reflect the dilemma of rural grassroots democracy.Also,based on a in-depth investigation of the rural elite councils in D county,the thesis aims to expound their characteristics that can promote the orderly expansion of rural grassroots democracy,to analyze their concrete role and effect in mobilizing the rural democratic participation in village affairs,by introducing from the origin of rural elite councils,their static organizational structure,functional position to the dynamic operation,using a large number of primary information for evidence.Through the investigation we find that the personnel structure of rural elite organizations is diversified and their principal part is prominent,and the members of rural elite organizations are both moral and competent,they are in the prime of their life,using their own strong social mobilization to link the weak mobilization of rural formal organizations,so as to realize the orderly expansion of rural grassroots democracy.Based on the premise of the combination of moral,resources and rationality,the core of villagers' support and participation on village affairs and the mechanism of the fusion between rural grassroots governance requirements and villagers appeal,they promote the interest compatibility,so that to achieve the sense of trust and democratic participation among different subjects.Rural elite councils are form of organizations that can be the transition and buffer between power-led politics and interest-led politics,their fundamental significance lies in realizing the rational democracy' expansion from the elites to ordinary villagers by the demonstration and mobilization of rural elites.The emergence of rural elite councils can enhance the interaction between the village formal organization and ordinary villagers,which is the returnof the nature of the village self-government.The integration of elite democracy and mass democracy is the should-be-what and inevitable trend of rural grassroots democracy.Therefore,according to the defect of the rural elite council itself and the system,this thesis also explores the institutional design that can lead to the orderly expansion of rural grassroots democracy: Rural grassroots democracy's orderly expansion needs to maintain the tension between the state and the society,needs sustainable incentive mechanism as a system support and fair rules of procedure as a guarantee.