Stability through more participation? Local direct elections and their impact on Communist rule in present-day China

Abstract

The article brings into focus an ongoing research project on village elections in the PRC. Introduced in the late 1980s, they have undergone almost fifteen years of implementation. However, China scholars have started only in. recent years to concentrate on village elections more systematically and to analyse their impact on Communist rule in the countryside. The empirical findings so far present a very contradictory picture, suggesting both more and less stability through the direct ballot. Also, much research has been done on electoral quality and participation patterns, while qualitative studies dealing with changes in the peasants' political awareness and behaviour lag somewhat behind. The project introduced here examines the peasant's political culture in six villages situated in three provinces, trying to narrow the mentioned gap within contemporary research on local democracy in the PRC.