Rightful resistance

World Politics

Volumn 49, Issue 1, 1996, Pages 31-35

  O'Brien, Kevin J ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE; POLITICAL PARTICIPATION; POPULAR MOBILISATION; RESISTANCE;

CHINA;

EID: 0030430811     PISSN: 00438871     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/wp.1996.0022     Document Type: Article

References (122)

1. On the relationship of resistance to negation, see Andrew Turton, "Patrolling the Middle-Ground: Methodological Perspectives on 'Everyday Peasant Resistance,'" in James C. Scott and Benjamin J. Tria Kerkvliet, eds., Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance in South-East Asia (London: Frank Cass, 1986), 38.
2. For differing views on whether political contention (particularly in the countryside) seeks mainly to retrieve what was or reaches for something new, see James C. Scott, The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Subsistence and Rebellion in Southeast Asia (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976); and Samuel L. Popkin, The Rational Peasant (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979). For the purposes here, it is only important that intrusive states and expanding markets pose challenges and present opportunities to marginalized groups and individuals.
3. For differing views on whether political contention (particularly in the countryside) seeks mainly to retrieve what was or reaches for something new, see James C. Scott, The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Subsistence and Rebellion in Southeast Asia (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976); and Samuel L. Popkin, The Rational Peasant (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979). For the purposes here, it is only important that intrusive states and expanding markets pose challenges and present opportunities to marginalized groups and individuals.
4. Herbst, "How the Weak Succeed: Tactics, Political Goods, and Institutions in the Struggle over Land in Zimbabwe," in Forrest D. Colburn, ed., Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance (Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1989), 199.
5. Scott, Domination and the Arts of Resistance (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990), 101, 106.
6. On these types of resistance, see respectively Turton (fn. 1); Leslie E. Anderson, The Political Ecology of the Modern Peasant: Calculation and Community (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994), 16; Michael W. McCann, Rights at Work: Pay Equity Reform and the Politics of Legal Mobilization (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), 276.
7. On these types of resistance, see respectively Turton (fn. 1); Leslie E. Anderson, The Political Ecology of the Modern Peasant: Calculation and Community (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994), 16; Michael W. McCann, Rights at Work: Pay Equity Reform and the Politics of Legal Mobilization (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), 276.
8. For related discussion, see Mari J. Matsuda, "Looking to the Bottom: Critical Legal Studies and Reparations," Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Review 22 (Spring 1987); McCann (fn. 5), 232-33; Ellis Goldberg, Tinker, Tailor, and Textile Worker: Class and Politics in Egypt, 1930-1952 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986), 14-15.
9. For related discussion, see Mari J. Matsuda, "Looking to the Bottom: Critical Legal Studies and Reparations," Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Review 22 (Spring 1987); McCann (fn. 5), 232-33; Ellis Goldberg, Tinker, Tailor, and Textile Worker: Class and Politics in Egypt, 1930-1952 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986), 14-15.
10. Sec Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, ed. Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith (New York; International Publishers, 1971), 229-39; E. J. Hobsbawm, "Peasants and Politics," Journal of Peasant Studies 1 (October 1973), 13.
11. Sec Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, ed. Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith (New York; International Publishers, 1971), 229-39; E. J. Hobsbawm, "Peasants and Politics," Journal of Peasant Studies 1 (October 1973), 13.
12. Tang Jinsu and Wang Jianjun, "Nanyi huibi de redian: jinnian nongcun ganqun guanxi toushi" (Hot issues that are hard to avoid: perspectives on rural cadre-mass relations in recent years) (Report of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Beijing, 1989), 4-5. A shortened version appeared in Difang Zhengzhi yu Xingzheng, no. 3 (1990), 15-20; no. 4 (1990), 13-17; Fang Guomin, "Dui dangqian nongcun jiti shangfang qingkuang de diaocha fenxi" (Investigation and analysis of the current situation of groups seeking audiences at higher levels), Xiangzhen Luntan, no. 12 (December 1993), 36; Cheng Tongshun, "Dangqian Zhongguo nongmin de zhengzhi canyu" (Political participation of current Chinese peasants) (Master's thesis, Nankai University, Tianjin, 1994), 11-12.
13. Tang Jinsu and Wang Jianjun, "Nanyi huibi de redian: jinnian nongcun ganqun guanxi toushi" (Hot issues that are hard to avoid: perspectives on rural cadre-mass relations in recent years) (Report of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Beijing, 1989), 4-5. A shortened version appeared in Difang Zhengzhi yu Xingzheng, no. 3 (1990), 15-20; no. 4 (1990), 13-17; Fang Guomin, "Dui dangqian nongcun jiti shangfang qingkuang de diaocha fenxi" (Investigation and analysis of the current situation of groups seeking audiences at higher levels), Xiangzhen Luntan, no. 12 (December 1993), 36; Cheng Tongshun, "Dangqian Zhongguo nongmin de zhengzhi canyu" (Political participation of current Chinese peasants) (Master's thesis, Nankai University, Tianjin, 1994), 11-12.
14. Tang Jinsu and Wang Jianjun, "Nanyi huibi de redian: jinnian nongcun ganqun guanxi toushi" (Hot issues that are hard to avoid: perspectives on rural cadre-mass relations in recent years) (Report of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Beijing, 1989), 4-5. A shortened version appeared in Difang Zhengzhi yu Xingzheng, no. 3 (1990), 15-20; no. 4 (1990), 13-17; Fang Guomin, "Dui dangqian nongcun jiti shangfang qingkuang de diaocha fenxi" (Investigation and analysis of the current situation of groups seeking audiences at higher levels), Xiangzhen Luntan, no. 12 (December 1993), 36; Cheng Tongshun, "Dangqian Zhongguo nongmin de zhengzhi canyu" (Political participation of current Chinese peasants) (Master's thesis, Nankai University, Tianjin, 1994), 11-12.
15. Tang Jinsu and Wang Jianjun, "Nanyi huibi de redian: jinnian nongcun ganqun guanxi toushi" (Hot issues that are hard to avoid: perspectives on rural cadre-mass relations in recent years) (Report of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Beijing, 1989), 4-5. A shortened version appeared in Difang Zhengzhi yu Xingzheng, no. 3 (1990), 15-20; no. 4 (1990), 13-17; Fang Guomin, "Dui dangqian nongcun jiti shangfang qingkuang de diaocha fenxi" (Investigation and analysis of the current situation of groups seeking audiences at higher levels), Xiangzhen Luntan, no. 12 (December 1993), 36; Cheng Tongshun, "Dangqian Zhongguo nongmin de zhengzhi canyu" (Political participation of current Chinese peasants) (Master's thesis, Nankai University, Tianjin, 1994), 11-12.
16. Tang Jinsu and Wang Jianjun, "Nanyi huibi de redian: jinnian nongcun ganqun guanxi toushi" (Hot issues that are hard to avoid: perspectives on rural cadre-mass relations in recent years) (Report of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Beijing, 1989), 4-5. A shortened version appeared in Difang Zhengzhi yu Xingzheng, no. 3 (1990), 15-20; no. 4 (1990), 13-17; Fang Guomin, "Dui dangqian nongcun jiti shangfang qingkuang de diaocha fenxi" (Investigation and analysis of the current situation of groups seeking audiences at higher levels), Xiangzhen Luntan, no. 12 (December 1993), 36; Cheng Tongshun, "Dangqian Zhongguo nongmin de zhengzhi canyu" (Political participation of current Chinese peasants) (Master's thesis, Nankai University, Tianjin, 1994), 11-12.
17. "Shixin haiyao feili" (Not only breaking promises, but also using force), Hebei Nongcun Gongzuo, no. 6 (June 1993), 42.
18. Cheng Tongshun (fn. 15), 11-12.
19. On contractual ways of thinking in the countryside, see Murray Scot Tanner, "Law in China: The Terra Incognita of Political Studies," China Exchange News 22 (Winter 1994), 21-22; David Zweig et al., "Law, Contracts, and Economic Modernization: Lessons from the Recent Chinese Rural Reforms," Stanford Journal of International Law 23 (Summer 1987), 326, 335.
20. On contractual ways of thinking in the countryside, see Murray Scot Tanner, "Law in China: The Terra Incognita of Political Studies," China Exchange News 22 (Winter 1994), 21-22; David Zweig et al., "Law, Contracts, and Economic Modernization: Lessons from the Recent Chinese Rural Reforms," Stanford Journal of International Law 23 (Summer 1987), 326, 335.
21. On "censorious" Chinese villagers, see Marc Blecher, "Collectivism, Contractualism and Crisis in the Chinese Countryside," in Robert Benewick and Paul Wingrove, eds., China in the 1990s (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1995), 106. On the concept of censoriousness more broadly, see Thomas Mathiesen, The Defenses of the Weak: A Sociological Study of a Norwegian Correctional Institution (London: Tavistock, 1965).
22. On "censorious" Chinese villagers, see Marc Blecher, "Collectivism, Contractualism and Crisis in the Chinese Countryside," in Robert Benewick and Paul Wingrove, eds., China in the 1990s (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1995), 106. On the concept of censoriousness more broadly, see Thomas Mathiesen, The Defenses of the Weak: A Sociological Study of a Norwegian Correctional Institution (London: Tavistock, 1965).
23. "Shixin haiyao feili" (fn. 16), 41.
24. Tang Jinsu and Wang Jianjun (fn. 15), 4. On reciprocal rights and duties in dynastic China, see Wang Gungwu, The Chineseness of China: Selected Essays (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1991), 165-86. Interestingly, Wang argues that the notion of reciprocal duties currently takes the form of cadres "serving the people" and citizens meeting their legal responsibilities.
25. On villagers' "awareness of personal rights and an intention to protect them," see Yun-xiang Yan, "Everyday Power Relations: Changes in a North China Village," in Andrew G. Walder, ed., The Waning of the Communist State: Economic Origins of Political Decline in China and Hungary (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995), 235.
26. Zhongguo Jiceng Zhengquan Jianshe Yanjiuhui, Zhongguo Nongcun Cunmin Weiyuanhui Huanjie Xuanju Yanjiu Baogao (Research report on rural China's villagers' committee reelections) (Beijing: Zhongguo Shehui Chubanshe, 1994); Fang Guomin (fn. 15), 36; interview with township official, 1993. One Liaoning farmer expressed his desire for greater disclosure with these words: "I don't know what kind of fee you are asking me to pay. When I know, I'll hand over any amount requested"; "Shixin haiyao feili" (fn. 16), 41.
27. Zhongguo Jiceng Zhengquan Jianshe Yanjiuhui, Zhongguo Nongcun Cunmin Weiyuanhui Huanjie Xuanju Yanjiu Baogao (Research report on rural China's villagers' committee reelections) (Beijing: Zhongguo Shehui Chubanshe, 1994); Fang Guomin (fn. 15), 36; interview with township official, 1993. One Liaoning farmer expressed his desire for greater disclosure with these words: "I don't know what kind of fee you are asking me to pay. When I know, I'll hand over any amount requested"; "Shixin haiyao feili" (fn. 16), 41.
28. These posters were all written on white paper (a color associated with death and ill fortune). This gesture attracted the attention of county officials, who investigated the charges and ruled that the balloting should be rescheduled and nominations reopened. See Zhongguo Jiceng Zhengquan Jianshe Yanjiuhui (fn. 23), 80.
29. Interviews with two officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Beijing, June 1994.
30. Shao Xingliang et al., "Yi min wei tian" (Regarding the people as sovereign), Xiangzhen Luntan, no. 4 (April 1994), 10-13.
31. Interview with official from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Beijing, June 1994.
32. Tian Yuan, "Zhongguo nongcun jiceng de minzhu zhilu" (The pathway to grassroots democracy in rural China), Xiangzhen Luntan, no. 6 (June 1993), 3-4. Complaints about election irregularities can also be found in Zhongguo Jiceng Zhengquan Jianshe Yanjiuhui (fn. 23).
33. Interviews with two township officials, 1993; interview with provincial civil affairs bureau official, 1993; Bao Yonghui, "Cunmin zizhi fuhe bu fuhe Zhongguo guoqing?" (Does villagers' autonomy accord with China's conditions?), Xiangzhen Luntan, no. 6 (June 1991), 12; interview with village party secretary, 1993; interview with villagers, 1994.
34. Yan (fn. 22), 235.
35. Interviews with two villagers, 1994.
36. See, for example, Wang Wanfu, "Mo rang qunzhong 'xunzhao gongchandang' " (Don't make the masses "look for the Communist Party"), Hebei Nongcun Gongzuo, no. 9 (September 1992), 33; also interview with villager, 1994. Leveling charges concerning "oppressing the masses" was discussed in a 1993 interview with a township official.
37. On rural collective violence before the mid-1980s, see David Zweig, "Struggling over Land in China: Peasant Resistance after Collectivization, 1966-1986," in Colburn (fn. 3); Elizabeth J. Perry, "Collective Violence in China, 1880-1980," Theory and Society 13 (May 1984);
38. On rural collective violence before the mid-1980s, see David Zweig, "Struggling over Land in China: Peasant Resistance after Collectivization, 1966-1986," in Colburn (fn. 3); Elizabeth J. Perry, "Collective Violence in China, 1880-1980," Theory and Society 13 (May 1984);
39. idem, "Rural Violence in Socialist China," China Quarterly 103 (September 1985).
40. On petitioning and remonstrating in dynastic China, see Mary Backus Rankin, "'Public Opinion' and Political Power: Qingyi in Late Nineteenth Century China," Journal of Asian Studies 41 (May 1982); Jonathan K. Ocko, "I'll Take It All the Way to Beijing: Capital Appeals in the Qing," Journal of Asian Studies 47 (May 1988). On precommunist petitions and their relation to repertoires of contention in post-Mao China, see Elizabeth J. Perry, "To Rebel Is Justified: Maoist Influences on Popular Protest in Contemporary China" (Paper presented at the colloquium series of the Program in Agrarian Studies, Yale University, November 1995). On post-Mao remonstrators and their relationship to the state, see Andrew J. Nathan, Chinese Democracy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985), 24-26; Kevin J. O'Brien, "Agents and Remonstrators: Role Accumulation by Chinese People's Congress Deputies," China Quarterly 138 (June 1994).
41. On petitioning and remonstrating in dynastic China, see Mary Backus Rankin, "'Public Opinion' and Political Power: Qingyi in Late Nineteenth Century China," Journal of Asian Studies 41 (May 1982); Jonathan K. Ocko, "I'll Take It All the Way to Beijing: Capital Appeals in the Qing," Journal of Asian Studies 47 (May 1988). On precommunist petitions and their relation to repertoires of contention in post-Mao China, see Elizabeth J. Perry, "To Rebel Is Justified: Maoist Influences on Popular Protest in Contemporary China" (Paper presented at the colloquium series of the Program in Agrarian Studies, Yale University, November 1995). On post-Mao remonstrators and their relationship to the state, see Andrew J. Nathan, Chinese Democracy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985), 24-26; Kevin J. O'Brien, "Agents and Remonstrators: Role Accumulation by Chinese People's Congress Deputies," China Quarterly 138 (June 1994).
42. On petitioning and remonstrating in dynastic China, see Mary Backus Rankin, "'Public Opinion' and Political Power: Qingyi in Late Nineteenth Century China," Journal of Asian Studies 41 (May 1982); Jonathan K. Ocko, "I'll Take It All the Way to Beijing: Capital Appeals in the Qing," Journal of Asian Studies 47 (May 1988). On precommunist petitions and their relation to repertoires of contention in post-Mao China, see Elizabeth J. Perry, "To Rebel Is Justified: Maoist Influences on Popular Protest in Contemporary China" (Paper presented at the colloquium series of the Program in Agrarian Studies, Yale University, November 1995). On post-Mao remonstrators and their relationship to the state, see Andrew J. Nathan, Chinese Democracy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985), 24-26; Kevin J. O'Brien, "Agents and Remonstrators: Role Accumulation by Chinese People's Congress Deputies," China Quarterly 138 (June 1994).
43. On petitioning and remonstrating in dynastic China, see Mary Backus Rankin, "'Public Opinion' and Political Power: Qingyi in Late Nineteenth Century China," Journal of Asian Studies 41 (May 1982); Jonathan K. Ocko, "I'll Take It All the Way to Beijing: Capital Appeals in the Qing," Journal of Asian Studies 47 (May 1988). On precommunist petitions and their relation to repertoires of contention in post-Mao China, see Elizabeth J. Perry, "To Rebel Is Justified: Maoist Influences on Popular Protest in Contemporary China" (Paper presented at the colloquium series of the Program in Agrarian Studies, Yale University, November 1995). On post-Mao remonstrators and their relationship to the state, see Andrew J. Nathan, Chinese Democracy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985), 24-26; Kevin J. O'Brien, "Agents and Remonstrators: Role Accumulation by Chinese People's Congress Deputies," China Quarterly 138 (June 1994).
44. On petitioning and remonstrating in dynastic China, see Mary Backus Rankin, "'Public Opinion' and Political Power: Qingyi in Late Nineteenth Century China," Journal of Asian Studies 41 (May 1982); Jonathan K. Ocko, "I'll Take It All the Way to Beijing: Capital Appeals in the Qing," Journal of Asian Studies 47 (May 1988). On precommunist petitions and their relation to repertoires of contention in post-Mao China, see Elizabeth J. Perry, "To Rebel Is Justified: Maoist Influences on Popular Protest in Contemporary China" (Paper presented at the colloquium series of the Program in Agrarian Studies, Yale University, November 1995). On post-Mao remonstrators and their relationship to the state, see Andrew J. Nathan, Chinese Democracy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985), 24-26; Kevin J. O'Brien, "Agents and Remonstrators: Role Accumulation by Chinese People's Congress Deputies," China Quarterly 138 (June 1994).
45. To see how contemporary resistance "bears the imprint of past practices" and how a "blurring" in protest repertoires of students, workers, and peasants that began during the Cultural Revolution is accelerating, see Perry (fn. 34). Perry, despite her focus on "continuations," agrees that recent unrest is partly a by-product of post-Mao reforms. On the adaptation of old repertoires to new concerns, see Sebastian Heilmann, "Grass-Roots Protest and the Counter-Cultural Revolution of the Seventies" (Manuscript, Hamburg, Germany, July 1995).
46. On the empowering effects of quiet changes in "resource arrays," see Kate Xiao Zhou and Lynn T. White III, "Quiet Politics and Rural Enterprise in Reform China," Journal of Developing Areas 29 (July 1995), 463-65.
47. The extent of villager dependence on village cadres before and after reform has been a subject of lively debate. For several perspectives, see Jean C. Oi, State and Peasant in Contemporary China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989); Victor Nee, "A Theory of Market Transition: From Redistribution to Markets in State Socialism," American Sociological Review 54 (October 1989); Jonathan Unger, "State and Peasant in Post-Revolution China," Journal of Peasant Studies 17 (October 1989), 133-35; Vivienne Shue, The Reach of the State (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1988); Andrew G. Walder, "Markets and Inequality in Transitional Economies: Toward Testable Theories," American Journal of Sociology 101 (January 1996). On the declining importance of administrative connections even in marketized areas with high labor-demand, see William L. Parish, Xiaoye Zhe, and Fang Li, "Nonfarm Work and Marketization of the Chinese Countryside," China Quarterly 143 (September 1995). Some research suggests that declining dependence may be most pronounced in poor agricultural villages. See Jean C. Oi, "Rational Choices and Attainment of Wealth and Power in the Countryside," in David S. G. Goodman and Beverly Hopper, eds., China's Quiet Revolution: New Interactions between State and Society (Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1994), 73; Kevin J. O'Brien, "Implementing Political Reform in China's Villages," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 32 (July 1994).
48. The extent of villager dependence on village cadres before and after reform has been a subject of lively debate. For several perspectives, see Jean C. Oi, State and Peasant in Contemporary China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989); Victor Nee, "A Theory of Market Transition: From Redistribution to Markets in State Socialism," American Sociological Review 54 (October 1989); Jonathan Unger, "State and Peasant in Post-Revolution China," Journal of Peasant Studies 17 (October 1989), 133-35; Vivienne Shue, The Reach of the State (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1988); Andrew G. Walder, "Markets and Inequality in Transitional Economies: Toward Testable Theories," American Journal of Sociology 101 (January 1996). On the declining importance of administrative connections even in marketized areas with high labor-demand, see William L. Parish, Xiaoye Zhe, and Fang Li, "Nonfarm Work and Marketization of the Chinese Countryside," China Quarterly 143 (September 1995). Some research suggests that declining dependence may be most pronounced in poor agricultural villages. See Jean C. Oi, "Rational Choices and Attainment of Wealth and Power in the Countryside," in David S. G. Goodman and Beverly Hopper, eds., China's Quiet Revolution: New Interactions between State and Society (Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1994), 73; Kevin J. O'Brien, "Implementing Political Reform in China's Villages," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 32 (July 1994).
49. The extent of villager dependence on village cadres before and after reform has been a subject of lively debate. For several perspectives, see Jean C. Oi, State and Peasant in Contemporary China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989); Victor Nee, "A Theory of Market Transition: From Redistribution to Markets in State Socialism," American Sociological Review 54 (October 1989); Jonathan Unger, "State and Peasant in Post-Revolution China," Journal of Peasant Studies 17 (October 1989), 133-35; Vivienne Shue, The Reach of the State (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1988); Andrew G. Walder, "Markets and Inequality in Transitional Economies: Toward Testable Theories," American Journal of Sociology 101 (January 1996). On the declining importance of administrative connections even in marketized areas with high labor-demand, see William L. Parish, Xiaoye Zhe, and Fang Li, "Nonfarm Work and Marketization of the Chinese Countryside," China Quarterly 143 (September 1995). Some research suggests that declining dependence may be most pronounced in poor agricultural villages. See Jean C. Oi, "Rational Choices and Attainment of Wealth and Power in the Countryside," in David S. G. Goodman and Beverly Hopper, eds., China's Quiet Revolution: New Interactions between State and Society (Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1994), 73; Kevin J. O'Brien, "Implementing Political Reform in China's Villages," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 32 (July 1994).
50. The extent of villager dependence on village cadres before and after reform has been a subject of lively debate. For several perspectives, see Jean C. Oi, State and Peasant in Contemporary China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989); Victor Nee, "A Theory of Market Transition: From Redistribution to Markets in State Socialism," American Sociological Review 54 (October 1989); Jonathan Unger, "State and Peasant in Post-Revolution China," Journal of Peasant Studies 17 (October 1989), 133-35; Vivienne Shue, The Reach of the State (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1988); Andrew G. Walder, "Markets and Inequality in Transitional Economies: Toward Testable Theories," American Journal of Sociology 101 (January 1996). On the declining importance of administrative connections even in marketized areas with high labor-demand, see William L. Parish, Xiaoye Zhe, and Fang Li, "Nonfarm Work and Marketization of the Chinese Countryside," China Quarterly 143 (September 1995). Some research suggests that declining dependence may be most pronounced in poor agricultural villages. See Jean C. Oi, "Rational Choices and Attainment of Wealth and Power in the Countryside," in David S. G. Goodman and Beverly Hopper, eds., China's Quiet Revolution: New Interactions between State and Society (Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1994), 73; Kevin J. O'Brien, "Implementing Political Reform in China's Villages," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 32 (July 1994).
51. The extent of villager dependence on village cadres before and after reform has been a subject of lively debate. For several perspectives, see Jean C. Oi, State and Peasant in Contemporary China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989); Victor Nee, "A Theory of Market Transition: From Redistribution to Markets in State Socialism," American Sociological Review 54 (October 1989); Jonathan Unger, "State and Peasant in Post-Revolution China," Journal of Peasant Studies 17 (October 1989), 133-35; Vivienne Shue, The Reach of the State (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1988); Andrew G. Walder, "Markets and Inequality in Transitional Economies: Toward Testable Theories," American Journal of Sociology 101 (January 1996). On the declining importance of administrative connections even in marketized areas with high labor-demand, see William L. Parish, Xiaoye Zhe, and Fang Li, "Nonfarm Work and Marketization of the Chinese Countryside," China Quarterly 143 (September 1995). Some research suggests that declining dependence may be most pronounced in poor agricultural villages. See Jean C. Oi, "Rational Choices and Attainment of Wealth and Power in the Countryside," in David S. G. Goodman and Beverly Hopper, eds., China's Quiet Revolution: New Interactions between State and Society (Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1994), 73; Kevin J. O'Brien, "Implementing Political Reform in China's Villages," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 32 (July 1994).
52. The extent of villager dependence on village cadres before and after reform has been a subject of lively debate. For several perspectives, see Jean C. Oi, State and Peasant in Contemporary China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989); Victor Nee, "A Theory of Market Transition: From Redistribution to Markets in State Socialism," American Sociological Review 54 (October 1989); Jonathan Unger, "State and Peasant in Post-Revolution China," Journal of Peasant Studies 17 (October 1989), 133-35; Vivienne Shue, The Reach of the State (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1988); Andrew G. Walder, "Markets and Inequality in Transitional Economies: Toward Testable Theories," American Journal of Sociology 101 (January 1996). On the declining importance of administrative connections even in marketized areas with high labor-demand, see William L. Parish, Xiaoye Zhe, and Fang Li, "Nonfarm Work and Marketization of the Chinese Countryside," China Quarterly 143 (September 1995). Some research suggests that declining dependence may be most pronounced in poor agricultural villages. See Jean C. Oi, "Rational Choices and Attainment of Wealth and Power in the Countryside," in David S. G. Goodman and Beverly Hopper, eds., China's Quiet Revolution: New Interactions between State and Society (Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1994), 73; Kevin J. O'Brien, "Implementing Political Reform in China's Villages," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 32 (July 1994).
53. The extent of villager dependence on village cadres before and after reform has been a subject of lively debate. For several perspectives, see Jean C. Oi, State and Peasant in Contemporary China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989); Victor Nee, "A Theory of Market Transition: From Redistribution to Markets in State Socialism," American Sociological Review 54 (October 1989); Jonathan Unger, "State and Peasant in Post-Revolution China," Journal of Peasant Studies 17 (October 1989), 133-35; Vivienne Shue, The Reach of the State (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1988); Andrew G. Walder, "Markets and Inequality in Transitional Economies: Toward Testable Theories," American Journal of Sociology 101 (January 1996). On the declining importance of administrative connections even in marketized areas with high labor-demand, see William L. Parish, Xiaoye Zhe, and Fang Li, "Nonfarm Work and Marketization of the Chinese Countryside," China Quarterly 143 (September 1995). Some research suggests that declining dependence may be most pronounced in poor agricultural villages. See Jean C. Oi, "Rational Choices and Attainment of Wealth and Power in the Countryside," in David S. G. Goodman and Beverly Hopper, eds., China's Quiet Revolution: New Interactions between State and Society (Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1994), 73; Kevin J. O'Brien, "Implementing Political Reform in China's Villages," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 32 (July 1994).
54. The extent of villager dependence on village cadres before and after reform has been a subject of lively debate. For several perspectives, see Jean C. Oi, State and Peasant in Contemporary China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989); Victor Nee, "A Theory of Market Transition: From Redistribution to Markets in State Socialism," American Sociological Review 54 (October 1989); Jonathan Unger, "State and Peasant in Post-Revolution China," Journal of Peasant Studies 17 (October 1989), 133-35; Vivienne Shue, The Reach of the State (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1988); Andrew G. Walder, "Markets and Inequality in Transitional Economies: Toward Testable Theories," American Journal of Sociology 101 (January 1996). On the declining importance of administrative connections even in marketized areas with high labor-demand, see William L. Parish, Xiaoye Zhe, and Fang Li, "Nonfarm Work and Marketization of the Chinese Countryside," China Quarterly 143 (September 1995). Some research suggests that declining dependence may be most pronounced in poor agricultural villages. See Jean C. Oi, "Rational Choices and Attainment of Wealth and Power in the Countryside," in David S. G. Goodman and Beverly Hopper, eds., China's Quiet Revolution: New Interactions between State and Society (Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1994), 73; Kevin J. O'Brien, "Implementing Political Reform in China's Villages," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 32 (July 1994).
55. On farmer conflicts with the state, see Thomas P. Bernstein, "In Quest of Voice: China's Farmers and Prospects for Political Liberalization" (Paper presented at the University Seminar on Modern China, Columbia University, February 10, 1994).
56. In a seven-year dispute over the illegal renaming of a township, hundreds of Shanxi villagers demonstrated in front of a county office building, demanding that the responsible officials come out. A group of the complainants marched carrying lit lanterns and candles (in broad daylight!) to prove that they could not "see" under the township's dark rule. Li Renhu and Yu Zhenhai, "Yangzhao xiang gengming fengbo" (The disturbance over changing the name of Yangzhao Township), Banyuetan (Neibuban), no. 6 (March 1993), 32-36. This case is a textbook example of rightful resistance because the villagers (1) based their claims on two state council regulations, (2) sought to locate allies in the county and provincial government, and (3) engaged in lawful collective action.
57. Yan (fn. 22), 235. For a similar report, see Yu Xin, "'Luan tanpai' reng wei xiu" (Arbitrary apportionments still have not stopped), Minzhu yu Fazhi, no. 9 (September 1993), 26-27.
58. Interview with township official, 1993.
59. Interview with township official, 1993.
60. Zhang Chenggong, "Cunzhang si yu chunjie" (Village heads die at spring festival), Landun, no. 3 (March 1993), 26-27; Zeng Yesong, "Jingdong Zhongnanhai de shinian yuanan" (A ten-year-long unjust verdict that disturbs Zhongnanhai), Zhongguo Nongmin, no. 5 (May 1995), 34-37; Lu Fengjun, "Da eba Han Gang fufa ji" (Report on the execution of local bully Han Gang) (Paper by a county judicial official, Shandong Province, 1993).
61. Zhang Chenggong, "Cunzhang si yu chunjie" (Village heads die at spring festival), Landun, no. 3 (March 1993), 26-27; Zeng Yesong, "Jingdong Zhongnanhai de shinian yuanan" (A ten-year-long unjust verdict that disturbs Zhongnanhai), Zhongguo Nongmin, no. 5 (May 1995), 34-37; Lu Fengjun, "Da eba Han Gang fufa ji" (Report on the execution of local bully Han Gang) (Paper by a county judicial official, Shandong Province, 1993).
62. Zhang Chenggong, "Cunzhang si yu chunjie" (Village heads die at spring festival), Landun, no. 3 (March 1993), 26-27; Zeng Yesong, "Jingdong Zhongnanhai de shinian yuanan" (A ten-year-long unjust verdict that disturbs Zhongnanhai), Zhongguo Nongmin, no. 5 (May 1995), 34-37; Lu Fengjun, "Da eba Han Gang fufa ji" (Report on the execution of local bully Han Gang) (Paper by a county judicial official, Shandong Province, 1993).
63. Maintaining morale among village cadres is a top concern of township leaders, particularly in unstable, "semiparalyzed" villages where underpaid, overworked cadres often threaten to abandon their posts. Interview with a township official, 1993.
64. Interviews with villagers, 1994. Suppression sometimes fails. In one telling case several villagers tore up their ballots just as a village election began and denounced a township-promoted candidate as corrupt. Though township officials at first sought to prosecute them for "impeding an election," and the county procurator accepted the case, the provincial people's congress, after consulting with the National People's Congress, decided it was "not appropriate to regard their actions as illegal" because the original nominating process had been conducted improperly. Zhongguo Jiceng Zhengquan Jianshe Yanjiuhui (fn. 23), 107-8.
65. Interviews with villagers, 1994. In Hebi City, Henan, about 60 percent of the collective complaints lodged in 1993 demanded an audit of village financial records, sometimes up to ten years' worth. Fang Guomin (fn. 15), 36.
66. Jonathan Fox argues that opportunities to gain citizenship rights rarely arise so long as authoritarian elites remain united, but that divisions caused by declining legitimacy and threats to long-term political stability can increase "access to state entitlements," even without meaningful electoral competition. See Fox, "The Difficult Transition from Clientelism to Citizenship: Lessons from Mexico," World Politics 46 (January 1994), 155-56.
67. In one village I visited, farmers have raised a collection to hire a journalist (preferably a reporter from the Focus segment of the CCTV program Dongfang Shikong) to investigate their charges. Interviews with villagers, 1994.
68. Hobsbawm (fn. 7), 15, writes: "It is as though the villages, always conscious of potential strength even within their subalternity, required only the assurance of goodwill or even mere toleration from the highest authorities to straighten their backs."
69. Interview with official of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, 1994; interviews with provincial civil affairs bureau officials, 1993 and 1994.
70. Fang Guomin (fn. 15), 36; interview with villager, 1994.
71. On "letters and visits work" and the use of mass petitions by leaders at higher levels to monitor cadre performance, see Yasheng Huang, "Administrative Monitoring in China," China Quarterly 143 (September 1995), 834-35; Ma Jinlin, "Jianchi qunzhong luxian, miqie dangqun guanxi" (Uphold the mass line, improve party-mass relations) (Paper by a county official, Hebei Province, 1992).
72. On "letters and visits work" and the use of mass petitions by leaders at higher levels to monitor cadre performance, see Yasheng Huang, "Administrative Monitoring in China," China Quarterly 143 (September 1995), 834-35; Ma Jinlin, "Jianchi qunzhong luxian, miqie dangqun guanxi" (Uphold the mass line, improve party-mass relations) (Paper by a county official, Hebei Province, 1992).
73. Cf. "In fact, given the highly personal nature of political ties in Morocco generally, it is very likely indeed that if any individual has a problem in his own locale he will seek a person who can help him from any place in the country, any position in the official hierarchy, and on the basis of any personal connection that best serves his particular purpose at the moment." Lawrence Rosen, "Social Identity and Points of Attachment: Approaches to Social Organization," in Clifford Geertz, Hildred Geertz, and Lawrence Rosen, Meaning and Order in Moroccan Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), 53.
74. For a discussion of "sandwich strategies" and triangular conflict between reformers, entrenched elites, and popular forces, see Jonathan Fox, The Politics of Food in Mexico: State Power and Social Mobilization (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1993), chaps. 6, 7. On "fragmented authoritarianism," see Kenneth G. Lieberthal and David M. Lampton, Bureaucracy, Politics, and Decision Making in Post-Mao China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992), chap. 1.
75. For a discussion of "sandwich strategies" and triangular conflict between reformers, entrenched elites, and popular forces, see Jonathan Fox, The Politics of Food in Mexico: State Power and Social Mobilization (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1993), chaps. 6, 7. On "fragmented authoritarianism," see Kenneth G. Lieberthal and David M. Lampton, Bureaucracy, Politics, and Decision Making in Post-Mao China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992), chap. 1.
76. Wang Wanfu (fn. 32), 33. On concerns that angry villagers may one day attack grassroots leaders with their shoulder poles, see Peng Zhen (Speech to the fifth joint meeting of delegation leaders and members of the Law Committee of the Sixth National People's Congress, April 6, 1987).
77. Interviews with central officials, 1993 and 1994. On the role of the Organic Law of Villagers' Committees in reducing cadre-mass conflict, improving policy implementation, and strengthening cadre supervision, see Wang Zhenyao, "Woguo nongcun de lishixing biange yu cunmin zizhi de biran qushi" (Our country's historical reform and the inevitable trend of villagers' autonomy), in Minzhengbu Jiceng Zhengquan Jianshesi Nongcunchu, ed., Cunmin Zizhi Shifan Jiangxi Ban Shiyong Jiaocai (Teaching materials for the study group on villagers' autonomy demonstration) (Laixi City, Shandong Province, November 1991), 44-45.
78. The subject of how to avoid abandoning categories prematurely when encompassing additional cases is discussed in David Collier and James E. Mahon, Jr., "Conceptual 'Stretching' Revisited: Adapting Categories in Comparative Analysis," American Political Science Review 87 (December 1993).
79. Clifford Geertz, "Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture," in Geertz, ed., The Interpretation of Cultures (New York: Basic Books, 1973), 27.
80. On "deep analogies," see Charles Tilly, As Sociology Meets History (New York: Academic Press, 1981), 8.
81. The quoted text and a strong defense of pursuing "narrative ordering of circumstantial detail" can be found in William H. Sewell, Jr., "Three Temporalities: Toward an Eventful Sociology" (Manuscript, University of Chicago, February 1992).
82. Arthur L. Stinchcombe, Theoretical Methods in Social History (New York: Academic Press, 1978), 15, 21.
83. Some relevant factors are which government commitments resisters invoke, which elite advocates are available, how political pressure is applied, and how willing authorities are to resort to ruining rightful resisters outside the law.
84. Mathiesen (fn. 19), 13, also 178, 187.
85. Richard L. Abel, Politics by Other Means: Law in the Struggle against Apartheid, 1980-1994 (New York; Routledge, 1995), 23-65; material in the rest of the paragraph is drawn from pages 62, 534, 12, 3, 541, 13, 62, 28-43, 539, 61.
86. On "weapons of the weak," see Scott (fn. 9).
87. McCann (fn. 5), ix.
88. Gerald N. Rosenberg, The Hollow Hope: Can Courts Bring about Social Change? (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991).
89. McCann (fn. 5), 290-93.
90. Ibid., 293-95.
91. For a critique of this view, see E. P. Thompson, Whigs and Hunters: The Origins of the Black Act (New York: Pantheon Books, 1975), 258-61.
92. McCann (fn. 5). Cites in the paragraph are drawn from pages ix, 12, 9.
93. On resistance that commences on "old ground," see Alan Hunt, "Rights and Social Movements: Counter-Hegemonic Strategies," Journal of Law and Society 17 (Autumn 1990), 313, 320, 324.
94. McCann (fn. 5), 49, 101, 245-58.
95. Ibid., 41, 48-50.
96. Ibid., 298-99, 185-86, 234.
97. For a discussion of this concept, see Sidney Tarrow, Power in Movement (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 17-18, chap. 5.
98. McCann (fn. 5), chap. 4.
99. Ibid., 64, 74, 89.
100. Ibid., 276, 52, 123-29.
101. Ibid., 58, 53, 64, 85-86.
102. Ibid., chap. 5, 140, 143, 220, 285, 232, 281-82.
103. See Thompson (fn. 70), 263.
104. McCann (fn. 5), 297-98.
105. Thompson (fn. 70), 263. Hunt (fn. 72), 311, has also noted, in discussing Gramsci's understanding of the relationship of law to social change, that "for a hegemonic project to be dominant it must address and incorporate, if only partially, some aspects of the aspirations, interests, and ideology of subordinate groups."
106. For this point in a different context, see Paul E. Willis, Learning to Labour: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs (Westmead, England: Saxon House, 1977), 26-27.
107. Douglas Hay, "Property, Authority and the Criminal Law," in Douglas Hay et al., Albion's Fatal Tree: Crime and Society in Eighteenth-Century England (London: Allen Lane, 1975). Although Hay allows for resistance based on law (p. 34), he focuses on the persuasiveness of law as ideology and its contribution to legitimacy. "Mind-forged manacles" are discussed on p. 49.
108. McCann (fn. 5), 230, 276, 232, 269.
109. On the growing importance of contracts even in remote rural areas, see Lester Ross, "The Changing Profile of Dispute Resolution in Rural China: The Case of Zouping County," Stanford Journal of International Law 26 (Fall 1989), 63.
110. This language is borrowed from McCann (fn. 5), 232. In China many villagers have shown themselves to be remarkably attentive to cadre misconduct related to birth control implementation. This is probably not because they desire conscientious enforcement of family planning but rather because any violation of a "national policy" can be used to weaken a cadre and secure high-level support. Interview with villager, 1994; interview with village cadre, 1994.
111. On "cognitive liberation," see McAdam (fn. 11), 34.
112. McCann (fn. 5), 281, 271, 282, 269, 264-69.
113. Li Kang, "Jiceng zhengquan yu jiceng shequ" (Grassroots government and grassroots community), in Li Xueju, Wang Zhenyao and Tang Jinsu, eds., Zhongguo Xiangzhen Zhengquan de Xianzhuang yu Gaige (Current situation and reform of Chinese township government) (Beijing: Zhongguo Shehui Chubanshe, 1994), 267.
114. For Scott's reversal of Gramsci, see Scott (fn. 4), 90-91. Scott's position is complex, and some of the evidence he considers in his discussion suggests less constraint in action than his turning of Gramsci upside down implies (pp. 94-107).
115. Interview with village party secretary, 1993; interview with deputy village party secretary, 1993.
116. Li Jingyi, "Nongcun 'zhiluan' qishi lu" (Reflections on overcoming disorder in the countryside) (Paper by a county party secretary in Hebei Province, 1992). A shortened version of this article appeared in Hebei Nongcun Gongzuo, no. 8 (August 1992), 14-15.
117. Li Jingyi, "Nongcun 'zhiluan' qishi lu" (Reflections on overcoming disorder in the countryside) (Paper by a county party secretary in Hebei Province, 1992). A shortened version of this article appeared in Hebei Nongcun Gongzuo, no. 8 (August 1992), 14-15.
118. On proactive claims in rural China, see, respectively, Perry (fnn. 33, 34); and Lianjiang Li and Kevin J. O'Brien, "Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contemporary China," Modern China 23 (January 1996). On competitive, reactive, and proactive claims in rural Europe, see Charles Tilly, "Rural Collective Action in Modern Europe," in Joseph Spielberg and Scott Whiteford, eds., Forging Nations: A Comparative View of Rural Ferment and Revolt (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1976). More recently, Tilly has preferred to speak of repertoires of contention, but others continue to find value in his trichotomy. See William H. Sewell, Jr., "Collective Violence and Collective Loyalties in France: Why the French Revolution Made a Difference," Politics and Society 18 (December 1990, 529.
119. On proactive claims in rural China, see, respectively, Perry (fnn. 33, 34); and Lianjiang Li and Kevin J. O'Brien, "Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contemporary China," Modern China 23 (January 1996). On competitive, reactive, and proactive claims in rural Europe, see Charles Tilly, "Rural Collective Action in Modern Europe," in Joseph Spielberg and Scott Whiteford, eds., Forging Nations: A Comparative View of Rural Ferment and Revolt (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1976). More recently, Tilly has preferred to speak of repertoires of contention, but others continue to find value in his trichotomy. See William H. Sewell, Jr., "Collective Violence and Collective Loyalties in France: Why the French Revolution Made a Difference," Politics and Society 18 (December 1990, 529.
120. On proactive claims in rural China, see, respectively, Perry (fnn. 33, 34); and Lianjiang Li and Kevin J. O'Brien, "Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contemporary China," Modern China 23 (January 1996). On competitive, reactive, and proactive claims in rural Europe, see Charles Tilly, "Rural Collective Action in Modern Europe," in Joseph Spielberg and Scott Whiteford, eds., Forging Nations: A Comparative View of Rural Ferment and Revolt (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1976). More recently, Tilly has preferred to speak of repertoires of contention, but others continue to find value in his trichotomy. See William H. Sewell, Jr., "Collective Violence and Collective Loyalties in France: Why the French Revolution Made a Difference," Politics and Society 18 (December 1990, 529.
121. On the advantages of insulation from hegemonic discourses, see James Scott, "Hegemony and the Peasantry," Politics and Society 7, no. 3 (1977), 267-96. My treatment of engaging the hegemony is closer to that developed in Scott (fn. 4), 94-107; and Susan F. Hirsch and Mindie Lazarus-Black, "Performance and Paradox: Exploring Law's Role in Hegemony and Resistance," in Mindie Lazarus-Black and Susan F. Hirsch, eds., Contested States: Law, Hegemony and Resistance (New York: Routledge, 1994).
122. On the advantages of insulation from hegemonic discourses, see James Scott, "Hegemony and the Peasantry," Politics and Society 7, no. 3 (1977), 267-96. My treatment of engaging the hegemony is closer to that developed in Scott (fn. 4), 94-107; and Susan F. Hirsch and Mindie Lazarus-Black, "Performance and Paradox: Exploring Law's Role in Hegemony and Resistance," in Mindie Lazarus-Black and Susan F. Hirsch, eds., Contested States: Law, Hegemony and Resistance (New York: Routledge, 1994).