‘Neo-collectivisation’ through property rights reforms : villager empowerment and state building in urbanising China

Abstract

Over the past two decades, property rights reforms in China’s peri-urban regions have succeeded in granting villagers individual rights to their collective assets. It has been argued that these reforms will lead to the demise of China’s long-established rural collective system. However, based on in-depth research and case studies in southern China, we conclude that these reform initiatives have been upheld by the state and villagers to sustain and improve, rather than destroy, rural collectivism. The implementation of formal titling through shareholding reforms has not engendered full privatisation and the dissolution of collective entities; instead, it has given rise to an alternative form of rural collectivity that has reshaped the power dynamics between the state and the villagers in daily governance. While this ‘neo-collectivist’ approach appears to have empowered villagers by enhancing their rights to collective assets and benefits, it has also strengthened the governing capacity of the socialist state by extending and legitimising its interventions in Chinese rural communities. 在过去的二十年里，中国城郊地区的产权改革成功地赋予了村民对其集体资产的个人权利。有人认为，这些改革将导致中国多年以来的农村集体制度的消亡。然而，基于对中国南方的深入研究和案例研究，我们得出的结论是：这些改革举措得到了国家和村民的支持，是为了维持并改善而不是破坏农村集体主义。通过股份制改革实现正式所有权并没有导致集体实体的完全私有化和解散；相反，其催生了另外一种农村集体，重塑了国家和村民在日常治理中的权力动态。这种“新集体主义”的方法似乎通过增强村民对集体资产和利益的权利，将权力赋予了村民，但它通过扩大社会主义国家在中国农村社区的干预并使其合法化，也加强了社会主义国家的治理能力。