County Political Integration: Rural Society In The View Of The State

The stability of county politics in the traditional state and its changes since modern times constitute an important part of Chinse political transformation.It is a major issue to discuss Chinese modern state building in perspective of long-term history.To realize political integration over rural society in the county region not only continues the interaction mode between the state and the rural society in the long-term history,thus being an inevitable requirement for the state to absorb resources and expand its authority,but also generates an institutional agenda in the historical process of the transformation from traditional politics to modern politics,thus being the proper meaning of the Chinese modern state building.What’s more,to rebuild the institutional connection between the rural society and the state through modern transformation of the political integration mechanism,so that the rural society can optimize the interactive mode with the state while fully integrating into the modern political system,is the only way for China to build a modern state.Based on this,this paper chooses county politics as research direction.By examining and analyzing historical evolution and modern transformation of the rural society integrated by the state,we can understand the fate of the rural society,discover the logic of the county politics,and grasp the context of the Chinese politics.The integration of the rural society by the state is a process in which the state cultivates agents in the rural society to realize political control and resource extraction over the rural society.As a result,various political elements in the county region are gradually merged into a uniform political system,and finally a certain political order will be reached.Based on this,the process can be called "county political integration".This paper continues Philip Alden Kuhn’s thinking on the origins of the modern state in China and introduces two analytical dimensions: financial extraction and institutional absorption,respectively corresponding to the state’s resource extraction and elite absorption over the rural society,in addition to political control,thereby constructing an analytical framework for county political integration,namely political control,financial extraction,and institutional absorption to conduct a long-term historical investigation on county political integration.Therefore,county political integration refers to the entry of state power into the rural social field,establishing grassroots politics and connecting social foundations and political buildings through elite absorption,so as to realize political control and resource extraction over the rural society by the state.From a long-term historical point of view,the county political integration has gone through four stages: the traditional state,the Republic of China,the new China and the new period.Through a series of institutional arrangements,such as the village system in the rural society and the legal subject system of households and people,the traditional state realizes political control and resource extraction over the rural society.In this process,the rural elites appear as the gentry class through institutional absorption,playing a functional role in connecting the state and the rural society.Thus,the county political integration in the traditional state presents a kind of earthbound order.During the period of the Republic of China,state power continues to enter the rural society,breaking the balance and stability of the earthbound order,and constantly adjusts the way of entering the rural society to establish a governing order,so as to strengthen control and resource extraction over the rural society.However,the formation of the brokerage system not only makes it difficult for the state to effectively extract resources from the rural society,but also leads to the "involution" of the grass-roots regime,making it difficult for the state to achieve reasonable political control over the rural society.After the founding of New China,the state strengthens the mobilization over the rural society,and the rural cadres dominate grassroots politics.The reconstruction of rural social structure and the completion of agricultural collectivization marks the successful construction of collective order,thus realizing the efficient extraction of agricultural surplus as well as completely eliminating the "involution" factors left over by the Republic of China.In the new era of the Reform and Opening up,due to the shift of the state’s work focus to economic development,the state makes major adjustments to the county political integration order.The basic direction is to take the household contract responsibility system as the forerunner,explore the path through villager autonomy,and continuously adjust the integration order under the conditions of the stability of the country’s overall situation and the development of the rural society.Throughout the historical evolution of county political integration,whether it is political control,financial extraction or institutional absorption,from the perspective of its orientation,the rural society is not what it means,but exists in response to the needs of the state,and constitutes the state’s political foundation.The state is not only the implementation subject of county political integration,but also the value target of county political integration.On the whole,county political integration has continued through the four historical stages of the traditional state,the Republic of China,the new China,and the new period,and has become an institutional agenda for Chinese politics to this day,but its existential value always points to the state.It can be seen that county political integration is the basic work for the selfconstruction of the political community.The state realizes control and resource extraction over the rural society through county political integration,and the historical evolution of county political integration defines the rationale for the endogenous development of the Chinese modern state.Since modern times,China’s historical process of seeking to build a modern state and promote modernization seems to have interrupted this endogenous development rationale.However,political control has always been the dominant mechanism in the relationship between the state and the rural society.After the historical proposition of the state power extending into the rural society to build the grassroots regime and strengthening resource extraction over the rural society has been substantially advanced,the grassroots political level finally returns to the inherent mode of political control,and at the same time,the national political level also generates the main theme and characteristics of political control as Philip Alden Kuhn says.From the low-integrated rural order in the traditional state to the "involutionized" governing order in the Republic of China,the county political integration continues the trend of the state’s strengthening control over the rural society.New China achieves a high degree of integration over the rural society through the people’s commune system,however,excessive control and extraction produces adverse reactions.As a result,the collective order finally recedes,and the control mode of township government and villager autonomy succeeds.From the collective order to the developmental order,it still reflects the logic that originates from the traditional state and promotes the endogenous development of the modern state: the rural society constitutes the political foundation of the state through county political integration,and the state realizes control and resource extraction over the rural society through county political integration.The state guides county political integration,the county political integration and its continuation and adjustment serves the specific purpose of the state,and the value of the rural society itself cannot be seen in it.This situation will make the county political integration inevitably change the long-term historical status of the rural society for the state,and the goal of its modern transformation is to realize the value of rural society itself.