Research On The Elite Capture In Precision Poverty Alleviation Based On The Empowerment Theory

Tourism poverty alleviation is considered to be an effective way to promote social,economic,and cultural development in the region.As a “hematopoietic” approach of poverty alleviation,it is highly favored by local governments.However,in practice,tourism poverty alleviation often pays more attention to the development of the overall economy of the region.This overall orientation and economic orientation will certainly ignore the participation and benefit of the poor.In rural society,there is stratum differentiation due to different types of resources and total capital.This stratification based on advantageous resources is projected into tourism poverty alleviation projects,which is likely to trigger elite capture.The "inaccurateness" of poverty reduction targets caused by elite capture violates the original intention of the tourism poverty alleviation projects.Therefore,exploring the root causes of elite capture and seeking governance measures for elite capture are preconditions for achieving accurate tourism poverty alleviation.This article use one case as research object,under the background of precision poverty alleviation.The tourism farmhouse project in Xiashe Township was selected as the research object.Based on the theory of empowerment,field visits and questionnaire surveys were conducted to carry out field research and supplemented by the telephone interview for expanded interviews and collected relevant materials.Based on the basic idea of "discovering problems,analyzing problems and solving problems," the author classifies and analyzes the phenomenon of elite capture in the tourism poverty alleviation project in Xiashe Township,and analyzes the root cause of elite capture in the project based on the theory of empowerment.The unbalanced distribution of power leads to the deprivation of the poor.Therefore,in order to inhabit the elite capture requires to empower to the poor.Its purpose is to achieve accurate poverty alleviation through the improvement of the existing distribution of power.The article first sorts out the participation status of poverty-stricken population in tourism poverty alleviation,the research status of rural elites,and the status of elite capture research.It also analyzes the core concepts and the theory of empowerment,in order to lay the foundation for the analysis of elite capture behavior in tourism poverty alleviation projects based on the theory of empowerment.Secondly,through in-depth investigation and research on the tourism project in Xiashe Township,at the same time,based on the data of the interview records and the results of the questionnaires,to organized and classified elites according to the main advantages of resources.Finding that there are institutional elites,“quasi-institutional elites”,social elites and economic elites in the township,and find that there are three aspects of elite capture in the farmhouse project in the Xiashe Township,including the leakage of information in project information transmission,and there is no poor person participate in project.Compared to the elite group,the poverty group's income are "relative deprivation" in project.Thirdly,use the theory of empowerment to analyze the cause of elite capture,finding the root is the unequal distribution of power in rural society,poor groups are of decentralization in information,economy,society,politic as well as mentality,and analyze the root of the different aspects of decentralization.Finally,based on the theory of empowerment,to build frame of empowerment of poor people in tourism poverty alleviation projects from five aspects,including purpose,content,tools,models and receptors of empowerment.The purpose of empowerment is to suppress elite capture.The content includes economic empowerment,that is to ensure the economic benefits of the poor;social empowerment is to enhance the voice of poor groups;political empowerment is to improve decision-making system in tourism poverty alleviation;psychological empowerment is to strengthen the subjective awareness of the poor.The means includes the empowerment of information to promote the transparency of poverty alleviation information,the empowerment of education to improve the participation ability of poor people,and the institutional empowerment is to establish corresponding protection mechanism.The modes of empowerment is divided into individual active mode and external force promotion mode.The types of recipients include capacity development,main participant,policy supporting,and active guidance.Different types of poverty groups should take different measures to protect their tourism revenues.