Grounds for self-government? Changes in land ownership and democratic participation in Chinese communities

Do variations in land ownership affect people’s democratic participation? Quantitative, cross-country research on this topic suffers from the non-comparability of regulatory systems and cultures, and the use of crude indicators to identify participation. This study attempts to overcome these methodological problems, by employing indicators of procedural and substantive participation in a structured, diachronic comparison of qualitative data from five sites in China – an authoritarian state, which, however, requires residents of urban communities and villages to participate in ‘self-government’. It examines whether and why changing land from collective ownership to state ownership, and residents’ compensated acquisition of cash and secure, fungible assets, strengthens or weakens participation in self-government. In the research sites, collective land ownership is found to stimulate participation in self-government. Transformation of the land to state ownership and people’s acquisition of private property weakens participation. The robust results of the study support the direction of a causal argument that collective land ownership is conducive to democratic participation. These findings imply that scholars and policymakers should consider the potentially adverse political consequences of changing land ownership. A further implication is that, absent substantial political reform, an urbanized China might be less rather than more democratic at the community level.     

后土地财政时期减支增收的财税法律规制

后土地财政时期出现的财税现实困境暴露出过往经济发展失衡的问题,究其根源,无疑是现存财税制度的供给无法有效应对后土地财政时期的预期。面对财税领域特别是地方财政增量减少的窘况,并不能一味以外延式增加地方财政收入的方式来解决。应以财税制度供给侧结构性改革为指导,转变“全能政府”的传统观念,运用财税衡平理念和理论,强化内涵式减支增收财税法制供给与实施保障。只有矫正过往稀缺财税资源粗放使用的痼疾,使财税资源集约化配置,才能产生有效率的高质量经济发展功效。应通过财税衡平法律机制的纠偏,优化财富分配的社会实质公平效能,最终实现新时代社会和谐与经济可持续发展的理想目标。     

Contesting land grabs,negotiating statehood: the politics of international accountability mechanisms and land disputes in rural Cambodia

Abstract

In Cambodia, rural citizens embroiled in protracted land grabbing cases with the state and private companies are turning increasingly to international accountability mechanisms for resolution. This article applies the interlinked concepts of hybrid governance and legal pluralism to understand the prospects and limitations of ‘forum-shopping’ through appeals to international mechanisms for rural communities affected by land grabs. Drawing on interviews and using process tracing, it examines the outcomes of a mediation case filed with the International Finance Corporation’s Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO) involving indigenous groups and a Vietnamese rubber company in north-east Cambodia. It argues that while international accountability mechanisms yield platforms for dispossessed groups to assert claims, they also reify choices between entitlements and attainability without circumventing the problems associated with justice delivery under Cambodia’s authoritarian regime. Overall, this study highlights the interaction, competition and collaboration between distinct forms of regulatory authority exercised by national and transnational actors involved in land grabbing cases in Cambodia, demonstrating their role in ‘negotiating statehood’ by governing local claims to land.     

耕地集约化租赁的纠纷审视与司法应对

耕地集约化租赁虽对实现农业的转型升级具有积极作用,但也出现了一些损害农村土地权益的负面现象,并逐渐演化为诉讼纠纷。其所凸显出的发展与有序的问题不容忽视,需要司法实践积极回应,并进行利益平衡上的思考。     

Land grabbing in Latin America and the Caribbean

Land grabbing has gained momentum in Latin America and the Caribbean during the past decade. The phenomenon has taken different forms and character as compared to processes that occur in other regions of the world, especially Africa. It puts into question some of the assumptions in the emerging literature on land grabbing, suggesting these are too food-centered/too food crisis-centered, too land-centred, too centred on new global food regime players – China, South Korea, Gulf States and India – and too centred on Africa. There are four key mechanisms through which land grabbing in Latin American and the Caribbean has been carried out: food security initiatives, energy/fuel security ventures, other climate change mitigation strategies, and recent demands for resources from newer hubs of global capital. The hallmark of land grabbing in the region is its intra-regional character: the key investors are (Trans-)Latin American companies, often in alliance with international capital and the central state. Initial evidence suggests that recent land investments have consolidated the earlier trend away from (re)distributive land policies in most countries in the region, and are likely to result in widespread reconcentration of land and capital.     

关于土地革命战争时期的毛泽东党建思想研究

土地革命战争时期，毛泽东在多篇重要的讲话、报告和文章中探讨了在当时的历史背号下中国共产党的自身建设问题，其内容主要涉及到党的思想建设、组织建设和作风建设等方面。进入21世纪，中国共产党人重温毛泽东土地革命战争时期的党建思想，对做好新时期的党建工作给予诸多而有益的重要历史启示。     

有关农村土地承包经营权两个争议问题的比较分析

在"依法治国"及发展市场经济的时代背景下,重新审视承包制下的承包经营权,并进行制度的重新设计,是我国土地制度改革中的一个重要课题.本文以现行人大法工委物权法第二次审议稿为视角,结合历史和现实的考察,对有关农村土地承包经营权的两个争议问题进行了比较分析,得出了两个相关的结论.     

论国有土地使用权的性质

以出让方式取得的国有土地使用权制度是我国重要的土地使用制度,国有土地使用权也是物权法要规定的重要内容之一.正确地认识并确定国有土地使用权的性质是必要的,应该充分地认识到:在我国现行的土地制度中,以出让方式获得的国有土地使用权是惟一可自由交易的土地使用权,在我国土地公有制的条件下, 一般公民与法人享有的是近似于所有权的土地使用权,在民法上土地使用权起着所有权的功能,土地使用权才是我国不动产的"自物权",土地使用权是不动产市场的基础.     

乡村振兴制度建设的内涵及路径探讨

乡村振兴要以制度建设为基础,以完善农地"三权分置"制度为契机,以城乡融合体制机制创新为支撑,以"活业、活人、活村"为路径。土地制度是实现乡村振兴的根本制度,三权分置是搞活乡村经济的制度设计,乡村治理是实现乡村振兴战略的总抓手。乡村振兴制度建设存在的主要问题是:"城乡二元结构"是农民获取城市权利的障碍,土地"二元制度"是导致乡村失去发展权的根源,农村"宅基地制度"是制约农民发展权的瓶颈。乡村振兴制度建设的基本路径是:为乡村振兴建设提供规划安排,为乡村振兴用地提供制度支撑,为乡村振兴资金提供政府投入保障,为乡村振兴社会稳定提供安全秩序。     

农村社会保障面临的困境、挑战与对策

建立和完善农村社会保障体系,让农民能够得到比较可靠的社会基本保障,不仅是现实的农村经济和社会现状以及农村人口结构变化的需要,更是维护农村大局稳定和建设和谐社会的需要。我国农村传统的土地养老保障和家庭养老方式,已经不适应经济社会转型时期的农民需求,要积极探索和建立新型农村社会保障体系。