Property Rights and Politics (Village Experiences from the Perspective of State, Collective, and Farmer Relations)

Author: Liu Jinhai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-02-01
Features: This research focuses on the formation, evolution, and transformation process of collective property rights. Specifically, it includes three aspects:
(1) The relationship between the state and rural collectives: The state arranges the property system of rural society. The state is not only the initiator of property contracts in rural society but also a stakeholder sharing in the property income and distribution of rural collectives. As a direct participant, the state is involved in the property income and distribution of rural collectives. In this regard, the construction of state power and the establishment of collective property rights will be the two main threads of the research.
(2) The relationship between the state and peasants regarding property rights: Through a series of land reforms, collectivization, and nationalization movements, the state gradually acquired the property rights of peasants and established a collective property right with Chinese characteristics. However, the implementation of the household contract responsibility system has, in practice, re-established the property rights of individual peasants and their families to land. With the urbanization of rural areas and the expansion of cities, the collective assets of rural society have undergone a process of "re-collectivization." This research will focus on this "re-collectivization" process and explore its impact on the allocation of rural social resources, the power and authority structure, and the realization of villagers' rights.
(3) The collective and individual peasants' participation in the income and distribution of collective assets under the premise of collective property rights. However, under the state-determined path of collective property rights, the "re-collectivization" process in rural society has expanded the autonomy of collectives, creating a new perspective in rural society—the all-encompassing collective power. This will make the relationship between the collective and the individual more tense in terms of their interaction with collective property.