To Vote or Not to Vote: An Analysis of Peasants’ Participation in Chinese Village Elections

Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 35, No. 6, August 2002, pp. 686-712

28 Pages Posted: 20 Jan 2013

See all articles by Yang Zhong

Yang Zhong

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Jie Chen

Old Dominion University

Date Written: 2002

Abstract

Village elections have been a much talked about subject both inside and outside China since the 1980s. Yet there is little agreement on the exact nature of these elections. The following study is an empirical effort to study peasants’ participation in Chinese village elections. The key question asked in this study is What subjective factors motivate Chinese peasants to vote or not vote in village elections? The authors’ main findings are that those who tended to vote in village elections were people with low levels of internal efficacy and democratic values, high levels of life satisfaction and interest in state and local public affairs, and that anti-corruption sentiment does not seem to play any role in village elections. Peasants with higher levels of internal efficacy and democratic orientation stayed away from village elections due to the institutional constraints on these elections. These findings call into question the competitiveness and democratic nature of Chinese village elections.

JEL Classification: N45

Suggested Citation

Zhong, Yang and Chen, Jie, To Vote or Not to Vote: An Analysis of Peasants’ Participation in Chinese Village Elections (2002). Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 35, No. 6, August 2002, pp. 686-712, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2203591

Yang Zhong

University of Tennessee, Knoxville ( email )

Department of Political Science
1001 McClung Tower
Knoxville, TN 37996
United States
865-974-7187 (Phone)
865-974-7037 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://web.utk.edu/~zyang/zhong/

Jie Chen (Contact Author)

Old Dominion University ( email )

Department of Political Science
Norfolk, VA 23529-0222
United States
757-683-3947 (Phone)

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