The Behavior Of Township Government And Its Explanation Since Reform And Opening-up

Township government has dual roles,which is not only the end of national administration,but also the epitome of grass-roots civil society.Therefore,the different behaviors of township governments not only have an impact on the state administration and grass-roots society,but also are shaped by the state administration and grass-roots society.At the same time,in different historical periods,the behavior of township government will also change over time.Throughout the academic research on township behavior,most of them analyze and discuss the behavior of township government at a certain time point(stage)from the perspective of "state and society".That relatively single research perspective is hard to grasp the behavior of township government in general.However,in the field survey of J town,the author found that besides its own autonomy,the behavior of township government is also affected by the joint role of the state administration and grass-roots society,and also shows different patterns in different historical periods.Therefore,the behavior of township government is influenced by multiple factors.This paper is devoted to discussing and explaining the behavior of township government from the perspective of "horizontal-vertical"combination.From a cross-sectional point of view,the behavior of township government is shaped by the dual factors of state administration and grass-roots society.The shaping role of the state administration is mainly manifested in the shaping role of the state grass-roots political power construction and the fiscal and taxation system on the behavior of the township government;the shaping role of the grass-roots society is mainly manifested in the influence of the rural relations and the rural social structure on the behavior of the township government.From the perspective of vertical and diachronic changes,the reforms of tax-sharing system and tax-fee system are two critical time points that affecting the change of township government's behavior.Therefore,the diachronic changes of township government's behavior can be divided into three stages:the "control" behavior of the township government before the tax reform(from the withdrawal of the community to the establishment of the township to the reform of the tax-sharing system 1983-1994);the "maintaining stability" behavior of the township government during the tax reform period(from the reform of the tax-sharing system to the abolition of the agricultural tax period 1994-2006);and the"service" behavior of the township government in the post-tax and fee era(from the abolition of the agricultural tax in 2006 to the present).From the perspective of"horizontal-vertical" combination,the behavior of township government has been divided into three periods vertically since the reform and opening-up,and the concrete forms and changes of the four dimensions of the construction of state grassroots political power,fiscal and taxation system,rural relations and rural social structure on the cross-sectional plane have been analyzed concretely,which have resulted in the behavior and logic of township government.