Advisor(s)

Suzanne Ogden

Contributor(s)

Denise M. (Denise Marie) Horn, Shiping Hua (1956-)

Date of Award

2010

Date Accepted

1-2010

Degree Grantor

Northeastern University

Degree Level

Ph.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department or Academic Unit

College of Arts and Sciences. Department of Political Science.

Keywords

China's politics, Chinese communist party, civil society, community construction, democratic development, grassroots elections

Subject Categories

China--Politics and government, Democracy--China

Disciplines

Political Science

Abstract

Since mid-1990s, the Chinese government has been promoting a policy of community construction (shequ) in urban areas. One of the main focuses of this policy is to build up the democratic infrastructure and institutions at the grassroots level in the cities. As a result, political and institutional reforms to make grassroots governance more democratic have been experimented and implemented in many cities. Members of the residents' committee, the "mass-organization" entrusted to governance the communities (shequ), are now to be democratically elected. The administration of the communities has to adhere to the principles of democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic supervision. The grassroots organs of the ruling Chinese Communist Party have to adapt to the democratic institutions, while non-governmental organizations, especially in the form of the homeowners' committee, also emerges as another channel for urban residents to participate in public affairs. The major aim of this study is to document and analyze these institutional designs and reforms. It also provides an interpretive perspective for these grassroots democratic reforms, arguing that these reforms embody a Chinese model of democratic development.

Document Type

Dissertation

Rights Holder

Chow Bing Ngeow


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