Rural Governance from the perspective of Government, Market and Community: a Comparative Study among Inland Chinese Villages

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24510336
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Area studies
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: TAHARA Fumiki 東京大学, 総合文化研究科, 准教授 (20308563)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 中国 / 基層ガバナンス / 内陸農村 / 政府・市場・コミュニティ / 比較

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research project, in an attempt to seek better local governance, explored how local society can better mobilize resources in three areas, government (re-distribution mechanism), market (exchange mechanism) and community (reciprocity mechanism). During research period, the project leader implemented intensive fieldworks in inland villages in China which include Shanxi, Guizhou, Henan, Jiangxi and Gansu. Based on these field date and comparative analysis of village governance among different regions, our major findings are; (1) “Collective” resources, as a form of community resource are more available and accessible in Northern villages than in Southern villages, (2) under the present market economy, private business is playing a crucial role in rural governance, and (3) in some areas, government are intentionally employing the combination of government resource and community resource, which would eventually lead to the empowerment of village community.

Free Research Field

農村社会学