Seeking Self-Governance: From Grassroots Mobilization to Movement Mobilization

Abstract

Villagers’ autonomy has been an important focus of Chinese studies on village governance and examining how villagers gain autonomy is critical to the addressing of villages’ problems. Based on the Wukan case, this paper examines why the villagers demanded democratic elections and how they acquire self-governance to run the village together through the efforts to express their collective interests. Focusing on the mobilization path, this paper argues that the process leading to self-governance involves the mobilization of organizational resources such as village elites and organizational structure as well as the “emotional resource” of cohesion, i.e. a sense of identity as part of an organization. Furthermore, self-governance acquired through mobilization only works when there is a proper organizational framework for its operation, otherwise it will become latent again.