Abstract :
Over the last decade, rural township governments have been
subjected to intensive streamlining and rationalization programmes. This
article examines which ongoing reforms and processes are causing township
governments to become “hollow shells,” and explores the effects of “hollowing
out” on township government leaders, staff and rural residents. While
the aim of local government reform was to transform extractive township
governments into “service-oriented” agencies, this article finds that the current
logic of rural governance has produced township governments which
are squeezed from above and below. From above, township leaders face
the political imperatives of inspections, annual assessments, the need to
attract industrial investment and an ongoing process of “soft centralization”
by higher levels of government. From below, township staff are drawn out to
the villages to enforce family planning policies and maintain social stability.
Unprecedented numbers are working as “sent-down cadres” in villages
where their capacity to deliver services has been weakened by village amalgamations
and the lifting of agricultural taxes and fees. Despite significant
boosts to rural health and education investment, rural residents still face a
level of government that regards them as problems to be dealt with, rather
than citizens to be served.
