Reflection And Improvement Of Villager Autonomy System In Ethnic Autonomous Areas Under The Background Of Major Epidemic

Village autonomy is an important part of the national governance system.The occurrence of major epidemics,such as the COVID-19 epidemic,not only poses a serious threat to the lives and property of the general public,but also tested the grassroots social governance system and governance capacity,and will have a great impact on the villagers’ self-governance system and village governance in ethnic autonomous areas.Through empirical analysis,the author has personally participated in and observed the epidemic prevention and control process in M village in an ethnic autonomous area,and found that M village went through three stages of epidemic prevention and control,namely,exclusionary prevention and control in the early stage,rational prevention and control in the middle stage,and integrated prevention and control in the late stage.As the normative system related to villagers’ self-governance in ethnic autonomous areas is not complete,the division of powers and responsibilities is not clear enough,the relief mechanism is not perfect,and villagers’ rule of law literacy is relatively lacking,resulting in villagers’ self-governance organisations being less sensitive,less organised and less responsive,and therefore adopting simple,rough and formal measures in the initial epidemic prevention and control,which restricts the effective implementation of epidemic prevention and control and rural governance.The COVID-19 epidemic has contributed to three changes in villagers’ autonomy in ethnic autonomous areas: firstly,a change in the ideology of autonomy,i.e.a change in the central leading role of village party organisations and the boundaries of villagers’ rights;secondly,a change in the pattern of autonomy,i.e.a further sinking of the administrative power of the grassroots government and a partial transfer of villagers’ autonomy;and thirdly,a change in the means of autonomy,i.e.a fusion of traditional means and modern technology.Promoting the improvement of the villagers’ autonomy system in ethnic autonomous areas is not only a matter of the long-term development of ethnic autonomous areas,but also a matter of the sound development of China’s grassroots social governance system and governance capacity.Therefore,in the "post-epidemic era",ethnic autonomous places should further strengthen the construction and implementation of the villagers’ self-governance system in terms of improving the supporting legal mechanisms,giving full play to the special role of village rules and regulations,and strengthening the construction of other village-level organisations,so as to promote the improvement of the capacity and level of rural governance in ethnic autonomous places.