IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/lauspo/v114y2022ics0264837721006633.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

State-scalar politics of rural land reform in China: The case of Wujin district

Author

Listed:
  • Zhou, Changchang
  • Chan, Roger C.K.

Abstract

China’s central government has been devoted to advancing its dualistic land administration system, such as by designating pilot areas to explore rural land circulation and marketization. Given the increasingly liberalized rural land development practices at localities, this paper aims to explore the variations between policy-making by the central government and implementation at the local scale in the context of interactive politics. A case study of Wujin District, located in the economically developed Yangtze River delta, was examined to unfold the local policy implementation process as intertwined with scalar politics, rural land politics, and the experimentation features of China’s reform. Conducted qualitatively, crucial policy actors were interviewed across multiple administrative levels ranging from the province, prefecture, county, and township governments to village collectives. It was found that within China’s hierarchical land administration, decentralized policy experimentation encouraged by the central government was compromised by the scalar politics and local governmental power structure when implemented on the ground (i.e., the city-county struggles and the resultant incomplete authorities of the primary policy actor). The findings highlight that central policy design and the autonomy of local governments during the policy-making process should be coordinated by embracing scalar complexity.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhou, Changchang & Chan, Roger C.K., 2022. "State-scalar politics of rural land reform in China: The case of Wujin district," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:114:y:2022:i:c:s0264837721006633
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105940
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837721006633
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105940?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ray Yep, 2015. "Filling the Institutional Void in Rural Land Markets in Southern China: Is there Room for Spontaneous Change from Below?," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 46(3), pages 534-561, May.
    2. Jingxiang Zhang & Fulong Wu, 2006. "China's changing economic governance: Administrative annexation and the reorganization of local governments in the Yangtze River Delta," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(1), pages 3-21.
    3. Jinfeng Du & Jean-Claude Thill & Changchun Feng, 2014. "Wealth redistribution in urban land development under a dual land system: A case study of Beijing," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(2), pages 501-517, June.
    4. Mengmeng Zhang & Jiang Xu & Calvin King Lam Chung, 2020. "Scalar Politics and Uneven Accessibility to Intercity Railway in the Pearl River Delta, China," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 110(4), pages 1260-1277, July.
    5. Jieming Zhu, 1999. "Local Growth Coalition: The Context and Implications of China’s Gradualist Urban Land Reforms," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 534-548, September.
    6. Chun Yang, 2005. "Multilevel Governance in the Cross-Boundary Region of Hong Kong–Pearl River Delta, China," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 37(12), pages 2147-2168, December.
    7. Hao Chen & Qiyan Wu & Jianquan Cheng & Zhifei Ma & Weixuan Song, 2015. "Scaling-up Strategy as an Appropriate Approach for Sustainable New Town Development? Lessons from Wujin, Changzhou, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-23, May.
    8. Hsing, You-tien, 2010. "The Great Urban Transformation: Politics of Land and Property in China," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199568048, Decembrie.
    9. Jiejing Wang & Anthony GO Yeh, 2020. "Administrative restructuring and urban development in China: Effects of urban administrative level upgrading," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(6), pages 1201-1223, May.
    10. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    11. Meg Elizabeth Rithmire, 2017. "Land Institutions and Chinese Political Economy," Politics & Society, , vol. 45(1), pages 123-153, March.
    12. Ross, Stephen A, 1973. "The Economic Theory of Agency: The Principal's Problem," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 63(2), pages 134-139, May.
    13. Jiang Xu & Anthony Yeh & Fulong Wu, 2009. "Land Commodification: New Land Development and Politics in China since the Late 1990s," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 890-913, December.
    14. Yanpeng Jiang & Paul Waley, 2020. "Small horse pulls big cart in the scalar struggles of competing administrations in Anhui Province, China," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 38(2), pages 329-346, March.
    15. Linda Chelan Li, 2010. "Central‐local relations in the people's Republic of China: Trends, processes and impacts for policy implementation," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 30(3), pages 177-190, August.
    16. Zhou, Yang & Li, Xunhuan & Liu, Yansui, 2020. "Rural land system reforms in China: History, issues, measures and prospects," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    17. Zhang, Xianchun & Sun, Yi, 2019. "Investigating institutional integration in the contexts of Chinese city-regionalization: Evidence from Shenzhen–Dongguan–Huizhou," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    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. Yao Luo & Yumei Li & Chen Li & Qun Wu, 2023. "Influence of the Kinship Networks on Farmers’ Willingness to Revitalize Idle Houses," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-14, June.

    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. Fulong Wu, 2016. "China's Emergent City-Region Governance: A New Form of State Spatial Selectivity through State-orchestrated Rescaling," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(6), pages 1134-1151, November.
    2. Siu Wai Wong & Bo-sin Tang & Jinlong Liu & Ming Liang & Winky K.O. Ho, 2021. "From “decentralization of governance†to “governance of decentralization†: Reassessing income inequality in periurban China," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(6), pages 1473-1489, September.
    3. Man Jiao & Hengzhou Xu, 2022. "Does Rural Construction Land Marketization Inhibit State-Owned Industrial Land Transactions? Evidence from Huzhou City, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-17, September.
    4. Yong Liu & Wenze Yue & Peilei Fan & Yi Peng & Zhengtao Zhang, 2016. "Financing China's Suburbanization: Capital Accumulation through Suburban Land Development in Hangzhou," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(6), pages 1112-1133, November.
    5. Liu, Yong & Zhao, Wei & Liao, Rong & Wang, Cheng, 2021. "Process analysis of inter-governmental negotiation in delineating permanent prime farmland around cities: The case of Chongqing, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    6. Xin Qu & Majella Percy & Fang Hu & Jenny Stewart, 2022. "Can CEO equity‐based compensation limit investment‐related agency problems?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(2), pages 2579-2614, June.
    7. Maria del Mar Miras & Bernabe Escobar & Amalia Carrasco, 2014. "Are Spanish Listed Firms Betting on CSR during the Crisis? Evidence from the Agency Problem," Business and Management Research, Business and Management Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 3(1), pages 85-95, March.
    8. Thaler, Richard H & Shefrin, H M, 1981. "An Economic Theory of Self-Control," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(2), pages 392-406, April.
    9. Lehn, Kenneth, 2021. "Corporate governance and corporate agility," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    10. Boudreaux, Christopher, 2019. "Do private enterprises outperform state enterprises in an emerging market? The importance of institutional context in entrepreneurship," MPRA Paper 93039, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Bai Xue & Zhuang Zhang & Pingli Li, 2020. "Corporate environmental performance, environmental management and firm risk," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1074-1096, March.
    12. Sanjiva Prasad & Christopher J. Green & Victor Murinde, 2005. "Company Financial Structure: A Survey and Implications for Developing Economies," Chapters, in: Christopher J. Green & Colin Kirkpatrick & Victor Murinde (ed.), Finance and Development, chapter 12, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. David R. Williams & Betty S. Coffey & Carlton C. Young, 2018. "Human capital and agency effects on CEO compensation of IPO biopharmaceutical firms and the market’s response," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 22(2), pages 315-337, June.
    14. Jianglong Chen & Jinlong Gao & Feng Yuan, 2016. "Growth Type and Functional Trajectories: An Empirical Study of Urban Expansion in Nanjing, China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(2), pages 1-18, February.
    15. Olivier Meier & Aurélie Sannajust, 0. "The smart contract revolution: a solution for the holdup problem?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-16.
    16. Atif Ikram & Zhichuan (Frank) Li & Travis MacDonald, 2020. "CEO Pay Sensitivity (Delta and Vega) and Corporate Social Responsibility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-20, September.
    17. Wu, Zhenyu & Chua, Jess H. & Chrisman, James J., 2007. "Effects of family ownership and management on small business equity financing," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 875-895, November.
    18. Yun Zhong & Xiaobo Su, 2019. "Spatial selectivity and intercity cooperation between Guangdong and Hong Kong," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(14), pages 3011-3029, November.
    19. Amon Simba & Mahdi Tajeddin & Léo-Paul Dana & Domingo E. Ribeiro Soriano, 2024. "Deconstructing involuntary financial exclusion: a focus on African SMEs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 285-305, January.
    20. Wang, Sen & Bogle, Tim & van Kooten, G. Cornelis, 2012. "Forestry and the New Institutional Economics," Working Papers 130818, University of Victoria, Resource Economics and Policy.

    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:eee:lauspo:v:114:y:2022:i:c:s0264837721006633. 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: Joice Jiang (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/land-use-policy .

    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.