Suchergebnisse

This paper examines the meaning of Chinese multiethnic autonomy in Longsheng County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. In the People's Republic of China, ethnic policy is aimed at national unity, but the construction of multiethnicity conflicts with the purpose of autonomy because this construction strips ethnicity of its ability to mobilize people into action. Local cadres cannot act meaningfully under the abstract concept of multiethnicity to which everyone belongs administratively but not ethnically; ie, multiethnicity cannot effectively represent any specific ethnicity nor does it serve as an incentive for cadres to develop agencies for social change. One result is the widespread sens of "no way out" of the institutional rigidity caused by the top-down style of policy making that the author detected among interviewees at all social & political levels. Adapted from the source document.

The chapter explores the relationship between elections & democratization in three minority villages in the People's Republic of China & a single village in Taiwan. The research entailed interviewing local scholars & cadres. Since democracy is understood as a largely individualistic system, these villagers' responses to ballot-casting are considered in terms of ethnic & kinship identity, trust in the notion of benevolent leadership, & other aspects of "human relational" culture. The findings indicate that in all of the villages, human relational features that privilege the collective over the individualistic persist. Although variation among the villages exists, based on the extent of desire for ethnic solidarity, there is no evidence to support any swift or inevitable transformation of collectivism from individualism due to elections. 1 Appendix, 15 References. K. Coddon