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Rapid urbanization in China has profoundly altered the landscape of its local governance, calling for a refocused inquiry into the impact of this transformation on the restructuring of power relationships between the socialist state and villagers in grassroots elections. In 1987, the promulgation of the Organic Law of Villagers’ Committees formally established the rights of villagers to elect their own leaders (cadres, or cun ganbu 村干部) and to participate in the making of decisions concerning village affairs.1 Some research has found that grassroots elections have formally empowered villagers to vote out incompetent cadres who do not serve the interests of the village.2 However, other works argue that village elections have remained state-manipulated owing to two main reasons. First, the socialist state has “no intention of relinquishing control” of rural society, despite a process of political decentralization that allows peasants to defend themselves, through elections, against abuses such as unscrupulous “gangster capitalism” by local cadres.3 Second, village elections were not welcomed by local officials who worried that elected cadres might side with the voters to defy implementation of or compliance with unwelcome state policies.4 Studies have found village elections to be fundamentally flawed processes, driven by rapacious and deceitful local officials seeking to maximize personal gain and sustain their positional power.5 Consequently, the “feigned compliance” of local officials in promoting village elections6 and the ongoing attempts by the local state to manipulate election processes have constrained the effective participation of villagers striving for democracy.7
The existing literature on grassroots elections in China seems to have overlooked how an authoritarian party-state has sought to transform itself at a time when rapid urbanization has heightened villagers’ awareness of social equities, economic interests and political rights. Over the past four decades, more than 500 million rural peasants have become urban residents in China. Land disputes and social conflicts have accompanied this massive wave of urbanization in many localities. To safeguard their interests, villagers have organized collective actions and resistance against rapacious land grabbing attempts orchestrated by corrupt, self-serving local officials.8 Moreover, villagers have increasingly exercised their voting rights in formal elections to support village leaders who are prepared to repel top-down national policies that threaten to...