The Stages of Political Innovation in Rural China’s Local Democratisation

Four Cases of Villagers’ Political Innovations

Bibliographic Data

ID9647702
AuthorsLiyan Zhang (0000-0001-6549-664X, Tianjin University of Finance and Economics (TUFE), Tianjin, China, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume48
Issue4
Pages427-448
Publication date2012-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueChina Report (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0009-4455 • E-ISSN: 0973-063X
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0009445512466620
OpenAlexW1975005631
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited7

This article analyses the stages of evolution of local democratisation in rural China from the perspective of innovation, especially grassroots innovation studies. Based on an interpretation of four major cases of villagers’ political innovations over the past three decades in rural China, we argue that: (a) villagers’ collective action triggers political reform in rural China; (b) the interaction between villagers and the government/Party moves the process of rural political innovations forward; and (c) the innovation process model drawn from the field of grassroots innovation studies, consisting of four stages—problem/motivation, trigger, initiative/innovation and diffusion/impact—explains the trajectory of institutional change in rural politics just as it explains the trajectory of grassroots technological and economic institutional innovation

China · Collective action · Democracy · Democratization · Economic growth · Economic system · Economics · Government (linguistics · Grassroots · Political economy · Political science · Politics · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Chinese history and philosophy

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