Mu ddli ng toward De m o c ra cy Political Change in Gra s s roo ts China Anne F. Thu rs t o n United States Institute of Pea c e Peaceworks No. 23. First published August 1998. The views expressed in this report are those of the author alone. They do not necessarily reflect views of the United States Institute of Peace. UNI T E D STA T E S INS T I T U T EO F PEA C E 1550 M Street NW, Suite 700 Washington, DC 20005-1708 Phone: 202-457-1700 Fax: 202-429-6063 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.usip.org Co n t e n t s Summary iii Foreword vi Introduction ix 1. Muddling toward Democracy: Rural Sichuan Province, November 1995 1 2. The Roots of Political Reform in China’s Villages 4 3. TheVarieties of Village Self-Governance 17 4. The Requisites for Success 40 5. The U.S. Response to Chinese Political Reform 44 Notes 47 Acknowledgments 53 About the Author 55 About the Institute 56 v Su m m a r y mong the most significant pol i tical reforms implemen ted by the Chi n e s e governm en t since 1989 is the introducti on of competi tive electi ons into rura l Avill a ge s .Thi s study, ba s ed largely on fieldwork condu cted between 1995 and 19 9 7 ,e xamines Chi n a’s efforts to bring competi t ive electi o ns to the cou n try ’s rural area s and at tem pt st oexplain why local democ r acy has proved more succe s s f u li n some pl ace s than in ot h ers .Byfoc u s i n gont h ere a l i ti e sa n dcom p l ex i ti e sofru ra l Ch i n a ,t h e stu dy al s oa t tem pt storei n trod uce Chi n a -a s -China into public dialogu e . The basis for vill a ge electi ons is a law promul ga ted in 1987 by the Nati onal Peopl e’s Congre s s ,Ch i n a’ s nominal legis l a tu re ,wh i ch specifies that vill a ge leaders be directly elected by the vill a gers thems elves for terms of th re e ye a rs .E l ected vill a ge leaders are not governm ent off i c i a l s .Ra t h er, th ey are tran s m i s s i on belts between the governm ent and the vill a gers ,r eporting popular opi n i on and proposals to the govern m en t ,h elping to main- tain social order, and medi a ting civil disputes . The electi on law is less the result of popu l a r demand than of an unusual alli a n ce betwe en cons erva t ive party leaders,who beli e ve that democ ra tic electi ons will help maintain stabil i ty and thus pres erve party auth ori ty, an d you n ger governm ent reformers , who have been influen ced both by Wes tern pol i ti c a l values and by the succ ess of democ ra ti c reform in Taiw a n . At the centr al level,the task of overseeing the nationwi de implemen t a ti on of vill a ge - level democ ra cy has been assigned to the Min i s try of Civil Aff a i rs . For the fores ee a bl e futu re ,t he evoluti on of the electoral process will be dicta ted by governm ent off i c i a l s rat h er than gras s roots or nongovern m ental orga n i z a ti on s . China has some 1 milli on vill a ge s ,a nd they are rema rk a bly diverse .We have no idea how ma ny peasants live in vill a g es with democ ra ti c a lly elected leaders.In tern a ti onal obs er vers have witn e s s ed , at most, only a few dozen electi on s .Vi ll a ge leadership must be seen along a broad conti nu u m ,f rom the least to the most democ ra ti c .A t the least democ ra tic end of the spectrum are vill a ges where electi on s have failed and leadership has broken down ,a s well as vill a ges that conti nue to be governed by “loc al emperors .” At the most democra ti c end are vill a ges with popular and innovative new leaders elected by majority vote ,wh o work in tandem with vill a ge repres en t a tive assembl i e s .In between are vill a ges where elec- tions are merely nomi n a l .In some ,c a n d i d a tes are cho s en by higher- l evel auth ori ti e s wit h o ut regard to vill a gers’ wis h e s . In others, the distributi on of pa tron a ge guaran te es a ca n d i d a te ’s elec toral succe s s . The best of Chi n a’s vill a ge electi ons are very good ,h owever, recogni z a bly competi t ive even with their distin ct ly Chinese cha r acteris ti c s .Th ere is no obvious correla ti on between the level of econo mic developm ent and the level of rural democ ra ti z a ti on .Ra t h er, th e vill a ges that have staged the most suc cessful electi ons are those that have received the grea test attenti on from higher-l evel officials most comm i t ted to making vill a ge democ- racy work .G enui n ely competi t ive electi ons seem to have a grea ter likeli h o od of success in more plura l i s tic vill a ges—th at is, vill a ges where neit h er econom ic nor pol i tical power is vi Summary overly concen tra ted and where vill a gers enga ge in a mul ti p l i c i ty of as s oc i a ti on s :rel i- gio u s ,po l i ti c a l ,e conom i c ,s oc i a l ,a nd familial. Thus ,vi ll a ges wher e wealth is crea t ed by ma ny entrepren eu rs are more likely to have competi tive electi ons than vill a ges where ente rprises are ostens i bly coll ec tively owned but are in fact managed by one person or a small group of peopl e .Ma ny vill a ge s ,t h o u gh ,a re elec ting their most pros pero u s mem b ers to lead them. Vill a ges with strong and active repres en t a tive assemblies are similarly more likely to fos te r a dispersi on of power, and thus to enco u ra ge genuine pol i t ical competi ti on .Th e vill a ge repres en t a t ive assembly offe rs a chec k against the power of both the party bran ch and the vill a ge chi ef , providing vill a gers with a significant voice in those deci s i o ns that most directly affect them, and fos teri ng grea ter tran s p a rency in vill a ge finance s .E n or- mous orga n i z a ti on al efforts will be requi red to expand competi tive electi ons into all of Chi n a’s vill a ge s .T he details of electi on procedur es must be taught ,su pervi s ed ,a n d le a rn ed .T raining is one of the major cha ll en g es current ly facing the Min i s try of Civil Aff a i rs .The ministry plans to train 12,000 nation a l - ,p rovin c i a l - , and cou n ty-l e vel off i c i a l s and 3,330 prefectura l - l evel trai n ers (for Chi n a’ s 333 prefecture s ) ,who in turn will trai n , within the prefecture s ,1.5 milli on towns h i p - l evel off i c i a l s .T he ministry’s goal is that by the year 2000 each prefecture will have one model cou n ty for vill a ge self-govern m en t , each cou n ty will have one model towns h i p, and each township will have one model vil- la ge .T hese models , the ministry hopes ,wi ll have a demon s tra ti on eff ect that will spread to all of Chi n a’s vill a ge s . Longer- term developm ent of ba s i c - l evel democ racy will requi re significant cha n ges at both the bot tom and the top. At the gras s roo t s ,dem oc ra cy will remain stun ted wit h o ut the developm e nt of a more plura l i s ti c ,c ivil soci ety.