Elections, Governance, and Accountability in Rural China

While competitive elections are a crucial aspect of village democracy, they are only one means to achieving good governance. In this article, we consider village elections in the broader context of improving governance in China. We argue that the promotion of village democracy should be complemented by simultaneous improvements in a number of other non-electoral areas that enhance the accountability of public officials. The Chinese central government has paid greater attention to these institutional aspects in recent years. The leadership is willing to encourage local experiments and tolerate some unorthodox practices. This interaction between local initiatives and central interventions will shape the future of village democracy in rural China. We analyze several of them in particular: tax-for-fee reform, new accounting practices, village affairs disclosure, and institutionalized participation in democratic decision making. This article reveals great diversity and discusses the politics of these institutional changes.