Property and Politics: Village Experiences from the Perspective of State, Collective, and Farmer Relations

Author: Liu Jinhai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-07
Features: This research focuses on the formation, evolution, and development 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, directly participating in the property income and distribution as an interest. In this regard, the construction of state power and the establishment of collective property rights will be the two main threads of the research process.
(2) The relationship between the state and farmers regarding property rights: Through a series of land reforms, collectivization, and nationalization movements, the state gradually acquired the property rights of farmers and established a collective property rights system with Chinese characteristics. However, the implementation of the household contract responsibility system has, in practice, re-established the property rights of individual farmers and their families to land. With the urbanization of rural areas and the expansion of cities, a "re-collectivization" process has emerged in rural collective assets. 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 farmers' participation in the income and distribution of collective assets under the premise of collective property rights. However, on the path of collective property rights set by the state, the "re-collectivization" process in rural society has expanded the autonomy of collectives, forming a new perspective in rural society—the all-powerful collective power. This will make the relationship between the collective and the individual more tense in terms of their relationship with collective property.