Path to Democracy? Assessing village elections in China
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12422352 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kevin J O’brien (0000-0001-9696-4792, corresponding author), Rongbin Han (0000-0001-7828-2245) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 60 |
| Pages | 359-378 |
| Publication date | 2009-05-19 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Contemporary China (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1067-0564 • E-ISSN: 1469-9400 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/10670560902770206 |
| OpenAlex | W3122132054 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 76 |
| References cited | 7 |
Election procedures in rural China have improved greatly over the last 20 years and a good number of reasonably free and fair elections have been held. But changes in the ‘exercise of power’ have not kept up with changes in the ‘access to power’. In many communities, township authorities, Party branches, and social forces (such as clans, religious groups, and underworld elements) continue to impede democratic rule. This suggests that a purely procedural definition of democracy is problematic and that democratization depends on the power configuration in which elected bodies are embedded. Putting grassroots democracy into place goes well beyond getting the procedures right, and ‘high quality’ democracy rests on much more than convening good village elections every three years
China · Clan · Democracy · Democratization · Grassroots · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Chinese history and philosophy · Law · Public Administration
Fragmented Rural Governance Behind the Dying Tree
Playing by the Informal Rules
Voting participation in grassroots elections and rural residents’ subjective well‐being in China
Discourse, Deliberation and Difference in an Authoritarian Public Sphere
Gamification, Datafication, and Performativity
Thirty years of grassroots governance
Asymmetrical adaptations to grassroots self-government between rural and urban China
Participatory budgeting and political representation in China
How “Participatory Governance” Strengthens Authoritarian Regimes
Patterns of Authority and Governance in Rural China
Village Elections and the Rise of Capitalist Entrepreneurs
Disgruntled cadres
Institutional bindingness, power structure, and land expropriation in China
Land reform, emerging grassroots democracy and political trust in China
Social Embeddedness, Power Balance, and Local Governance in China
Decentralization and Veiled Corruption under China’s “Rule of Mandates”
Do government accountability and responsiveness enhance support for property taxes? Experimental evidence from China
Clans and calamity
China’s Ideological Spectrum
Making the countryside more like the countryside? Rural planning and metropolitan visions in post-quake Chengdu
Delivering the Vote
The Impact of Power Centralization on Village Self-Governance
The New Rural Reconstruction Movement
When democratic deliberation encounters Confucian moral governance
Geography of government support in China
The Influence of Religious Belief on Political Voting Behaviour of Urban Residents
Explaining voting participation gaps in local government elections in rural China
Crafting a Democratic Enclave on the Cyberspace
Extending political participation in China
The influence of media use on different modes of political participation in China
Wire-Walking
International relations theory and US–China competition
Autocrats’ Dilemma
A different interpretation from Cornet's on tourism development in an ethnic minority village in China
Penetrating the Grassroots
Rise of meritocracy
Conflict in tourism development in rural China
Do college graduates serving as village officials help mitigate income inequality within village
Governance and public administration in China
Institutionalizing from the Middle
Vote Buying as Rent Seeking
Authoritarianism as a Research Constraint
Life‐Cycle and Generational Influences on Chinese Political Behavior and Attitudes
Elite Capture
Why Non-Democracy Engages with Western Democracy-Promotion Programs
Participation Disenchants
The durability of governance reform
Clans, Electoral Procedures and Voter Turnout
Land Taking and Electoral Rule Setting
Conceptions of democracy in China
Public participation in democracy, local accountability and happiness
Negativity bias in welfare policy feedback effects on mass publics
Why do they vote out of habit? Habitual voting under diverse regimes in East Asia
Explaining incumbent re-election in authoritarian elections
Democratic enclaves in authoritarian regimes
Economic inequalities in contemporary rural China
Do inferences of competence from faces predict political selection in authoritarian regimes? Evidence from China
Does Labor Migration Improve Access to Public Goods in Source Communities? Evidence from Rural China
Is Consultation the “New Normal
Accepting the Bargain? An Experimental Study of Political Rights, Economic Development and Support for Government in Rural China
Why Village Election Has Not Much Improved Village Governance
Non-institutional Factors in Shaping Rural Elections and Governance in China
Who Cares About Procedural Fairness? An Experimental Approach to Support for Village Elections
From Village Election to Village Deliberation in Rural China
Crossing the River by Feeling the Stones
Embracing the concept of democracy in China
Village Elections and Their Impact
Generating Regime Support in Contemporary China
Imposition to agonism
Domestic migrants' responsiveness to electoral mobilization under authoritarianism
Improving Women's Substantive Representation in Community Government
Introduction
Cultural sources of gender gaps
Village Self-Government and Representation in Southwest China
Informal Institutions, Collective Action, and Public Investment in Rural China
Grounds for self-government? Changes in land ownership and democratic participation in Chinese communities
The Post-Election Administration of Chinese Villages
Building institutional rules and procedures
The Face of "Grassroots Democracy" in Rural China
Village Committee Elections in China
A Survey Study of Voting Behavior and Political Participation in Zhejiang
Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contemporary China
| Unique citing works | 76 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4,75 |
| Citation span | 2010 - 2026 (17) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 75 |