IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/poango/v6y2018i2p90-102.html

Voting and Values: Grassroots Elections in Rural and Urban China

Author

Listed:
  • John James Kennedy

    (Department of Political Science, University of Kansas, USA)

  • Haruka Nagao

    (Department of Political Science, University of Kansas, USA)

  • Hongyan Liu

    (School of Economics, Northwest University of Political Science and Law, China)

Abstract

Authoritarian leaders often claim that they promote democratic institutions such as elections and democratic values. In China, the central propaganda often promotes the right and duty of citizens to vote in local elections as well as the importance of citizens’ input into the policy making process. However, there is often a gap between government rhetoric and reality. In this article, we use the China General Social Survey (CGSS) 2013 to evaluate the determinants of voting in local elections and democratic values (attitudes) in rural and urban China. The results show that respondents with higher education tend to have lower levels of democratic values and participate less in local elections, but respondents with only compulsory education are more likely to display democratic orientations and vote. This suggests the relative success as well as the limits of authoritarian democratic propaganda.

Suggested Citation

  • John James Kennedy & Haruka Nagao & Hongyan Liu, 2018. "Voting and Values: Grassroots Elections in Rural and Urban China," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(2), pages 90-102.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:2:p:90-102
    DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i2.1331
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1331
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/pag.v6i2.1331?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John James Kennedy, 2009. "Maintaining Popular Support for the Chinese Communist Party: The Influence of Education and the State‐Controlled Media," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 57(3), pages 517-536, October.
    2. Lipset, Seymour Martin, 1959. "Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy1," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(1), pages 69-105, March.
    3. Ian McAllister & Stephen White, 2017. "Economic Change and Public Support for Democracy in China and Russia," Europe-Asia Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 69(1), pages 76-91, January.
    4. Jie Lu & John Aldrich & Tianjian Shi, 2014. "Revisiting Media Effects in Authoritarian Societies," Politics & Society, , vol. 42(2), pages 253-283, June.
    5. Chen, Jie, 2013. "A Middle Class Without Democracy: Economic Growth and the Prospects for Democratization in China," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199841639.
    6. Youngho Cho, 2015. "How Well are Global Citizenries Informed about Democracy? Ascertaining the Breadth and Distribution of Their Democratic Enlightenment and Its Sources," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 63(1), pages 240-258, March.
    7. John James Kennedy, 2009. "Maintaining Popular Support for the Chinese Communist Party: The Influence of Education and the State-Controlled Media," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 57, pages 517-536, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Natasha Ezrow, 2018. "Authoritarianism in the 21st Century," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(2), pages 83-86.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. John James Kennedy & Haruka Nagao & Hongyan Liu, 2018. "Voting and Values: Grassroots Elections in Rural and Urban China," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(2), pages 90-102.
    2. Yue Yin, 2022. "Understanding democratic perceptions and political participation among the younger generation in China's changing society: No news is good news for the Chinese government," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 103(5), pages 1168-1189, September.
    3. Zhao, Yucong & Wang, Ting & Ye, Bing, 2025. "Pandemic lockdowns and trust in local government in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 96-117.
    4. Fungáčová, Zuzana & Weill, Laurent, 2017. "Trusting banks in China," BOFIT Discussion Papers 9/2017, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    5. Shuai Jin & Yingnan Joseph Zhou, 2021. "An Authoritarian Undercurrent in the Postmaterialist Tide: The Rise of Authoritarianism Among the Younger Generation in China," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(1), pages 90-106, January.
    6. repec:gig:chaktu:v:44:y:2015:i:2:p:105-134 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Fungáčová, Zuzana & Weill, Laurent, 2017. "Trusting banks in China," BOFIT Discussion Papers 9/2017, Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition.
    8. Xiwen Fu, 2018. "The Contextual Effects of Political Trust on Happiness: Evidence from China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 491-516, September.
    9. Eric Rougier & Jean‐Philippe Berrou & Matthieu Clément & François Combarnous & Dominique Darbon, 2021. "Should we call it a (middle) class? A socio‐economic exploration of the Vietnamese middle‐income group," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(8), pages 1321-1345, November.
    10. Eduard Ponarin & Yulia Afanasyeva, 2025. "The Effect of Political Regime on the Association of Values with Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 1-24, January.
    11. Lewkowicz, Jacek & Woźniak, Michał & Wrzesiński, Michał, 2022. "COVID-19 and erosion of democracy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    12. Jian-Guang Shen, 2002. "Democracy and growth: An alternative empirical approach," Development and Comp Systems 0212002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. repec:rza:wpaper:029 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Mehlum, Halvor & Moene, Karl Ove & Østenstad, Gry, 2025. "Add and rule," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    15. Seghezza, Elena & Pittaluga, Giovanni B., 2018. "Resource rents and populism in resource-dependent economies," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 83-88.
    16. Lourdes ROJAS RUBIO, 2022. "Inequality, Corruption and Support for Democracy," Thema Working Papers 2022-20, THEMA (Théorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), CY Cergy-Paris University, ESSEC and CNRS.
    17. Tausch, Arno, 2018. "The return of religious Antisemitism? The evidence from World Values Survey data," MPRA Paper 90093, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Gary Goertz & Tony Hak & Jan Dul, 2013. "Ceilings and Floors," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 42(1), pages 3-40, February.
    19. Fischer, Justina AV & Schneider, Friedrich, 2007. "Protestantism and Government Spending: a Negative Relationship? An Empirical Application to Swiss Cantons," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 685, Stockholm School of Economics.
    20. Amir-ud-Din, Rafi & Rashid, Abdul & Ahmad, Shabbir, 2008. "Democracy, Inequality and Economic Development: The Case of Pakistan," MPRA Paper 26935, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Sayantan Ghosal & Eugenio Proto, 2006. "Why did (not) the East Extend the Franchise? Democracy, Intra-Elite Conflict and Risk Sharing," DEGIT Conference Papers c011_032, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.
    22. Torsten Persson & Guido Tabellini, 2009. "Democratic Capital: The Nexus of Political and Economic Change," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 88-126, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:2:p:90-102. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.