Hukou and land: market reform and rural displacement in China

Scholarship about the Chinese hukou (household registration) system has focused on the advantages and entitlements associated with urban hukou. This paper shifts attention to the key entitlement provided by rural hukou – village land. While early hukou reforms were mainly designed to open up urban labor markets to rural migrants, recent reforms have also begun to open up rural land markets, by replacing hukou-based land rights with market-based rights. These reforms are designed to facilitate land concentration and the transfer of land to outside developers and agribusiness companies, which has been hindered by hukou-based land rights. Underlying the reforms is the government's agenda of promoting large-scale agriculture and urbanization, both of which require the removal of a large portion of the rural population from the land. By focusing on land rights rather than urban benefits, this paper provides a new perspective on the evolution of the hukou system, and highlights the negative implications of recent reforms for livelihood security in the countryside.     

Controlling land they call their own: access and women's empowerment in Northern Tanzania

Formal rights to land are often promoted as an essential part of empowering women, particularly in the Global South. We look at two grassroots non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working on land rights and empowerment with Maasai communities in Northern Tanzania. Women involved with both NGOS attest to the power of land ownership for personal empowerment and transformations in gender relations. Yet very few have obtained land ownership titles. Drawing from Ribot and Peluso's theory of access, we argue that more than ownership rights to land, access – to land, knowledge, social relations and political processes – is leading to empowerment for these women, as well as helping to keep land within communities. We illustrate how the following are key to both empowerment processes and protecting community and women's land: (1) access to knowledge about legal rights, such as the right to own land; (2) access to customary forms of authority; and (3) access to a joint social identity – as women, as ‘indigenous people’ and as ‘Maasai'. Through this shared identity and access to knowledge and authority, women are strengthening their access to social relations (amongst themselves, with powerful political players and NGOs), and gaining strength through collective action to protect land rights.     

How empowering leadership reduces employee silence in public organizations

The intentional withholding of critical work‐related information can have serious negative consequences in public organizations. Yet, few studies have examined why public employees intentionally remain silent about problems and how to prevent such behaviour. This article provides insights into how managers may lower employee silence in government organizations. We develop a model that suggests that empowering leadership by frontline supervisors reduces public employee silence, by improving employee trust in their supervisors, granting employees control over their jobs, and strengthening identification with the organization. We test the model in two cross‐sectional studies with data collected from all employees working in two local governments in the United States. We find empirical support for the model in both studies. We discuss the implications of the research results for public management scholarship and practice.     

Aid vs. “Aid”: Foreign Aid in Mao‐Era China's Public Diplomacy

Historicising Chinese foreign‐aid thinking has become indispensable given China's increasing global role. This article examines a key aspect of this context: the Great Leap Forward and the emerging Sino‐Soviet split period (1958‐1961). The Peking Review is utilised as a window into official aid‐related discourses of the time. The article is organized around an aid vs. “aid” rhetorical and conceptual symmetry within the magazine. Aid is ultimately what Mao Zedong and other leaders intend audiences to code as pro‐development and prestigious. The greater the unreciprocated cost to the donor and the higher the embodied technology, the more helpful and prestigious the donor. At the same time, the more ideologically correct the recipient or donor, the greater its relative prestige in the equation. An ideologically correct recipient such as China deserves more help but needs it less, and accrues more prestige even as it gives comparatively less aid. “Aid” is the reverse image of aid in that it is harmful rather than helpful. But instead of being the opposite of prestigious, “aid” is powerful in a predatory, paper tiger‐like way. While this discourse reflects parochial concerns of the period, the underlying concepts are likely to continue to influence contemporary Chinese aid thinking and practices.